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^^^ riCAL SUGGESTIONS 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



Practical Suggestions 

for 

Mother and Housewife|^ 



By 

MARION MILLS MILLER, Litt.D. 

Edited by 
THEODORE WATERS 



THE CHRISTIAN HERALD 

BIBLE HOUSE 

NEW YORK 




Copyright, 1910, by 

THE CHRISTIAN HERALD 
NEW YORK 



' * 
• • * 



©CI.A278194 



Practical Suggestions 

for 

Mother and Housewife 



Contents 

CHAPTER I 

THE SINGLE WOMAN 

Her Freedom. Culture a desideratum in her 
choice of work. Daughters as assistants of their 
fathers. In law. In medicine. As scientific 
farmers. Preparation for speaking or writing. 
Steps in the career of a journalist. The editor. 
The Advertising writer. The illustrator. De- 
signing book covers. Patterns. 

CHAPTER II 

THE SINGLE WOMAN 

Teaching. Teaching Women in Society. Par- 
liamentary law. Games. Book-reviewing. 
Manuscript-reading for publishers. Library 
work. Teaching music and painting. Home 
study of professional housework. The unmar- 
ried daughter at home. The woman in busi- 
ness. Her relation to her employer. Securing 
an increase of salary. The woman of indepen- 
dent means. Her civic and social duties. 

y 



vi CONTENTS 

CHAPTER III 

THE WIFE 

Nature's intention in marriage. The wom- 
an's crime in marrying for support. Her blun- 
der in marrying an inefficient man for love. 
The proper union. Mutual aid of husband and 
wife. Manipulating a husband. By deceit. By 
tact. Confidence between man and wife. 

CHAPTER IV 

THE HOUSE 

Element in choice of a home. The city apart- 
ment. Furniture for a temporary home. 
Couches. Rugs. Book-cases. The suburban 
and country house. Economic considerations. 
Buying an old house. Building a new one. 
Supervising the building. The woman's wishes. 

CHAPTER V 

THE HOUSE 

Essential parts of a house. Double use of 
rooms. Utility of piazzas. Landscape garden- 
ing. Water sunply. Water power. Illumina- 
tion. Dangers from gas. How to read a gas- 
meter. How to test kerosene. Care of lamps. 
Use of candles. Making the best of the old 
house. 

CHAPTER VI 

FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

The qualities to be sought in furniture. Home- 
made furniture. Semi-made furniture. Good 
furniture as an investment. Furnishing and 
decorating the hall. The staircase. The par- 
lor. Rugs and carpets. Oriental rugs. Floors. 



CONTENTS vil 

Treatment of hardwood. Of other wood. How 
to stain a floor covering. 

CHAPTER Vn 

FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

The carpet square. Furniture for the parlor. 
Parlor decoration. The piano. The Hbrary. 
Arrangement of books. The "Den." The liv- 
ing-room. The dining-room. Bedrooms. How 
to make a bed. The guest chamber. Window 
shades and blinds. 

CHAPTER Vni 

THE MOTHER 

Nursing the child. The mother's diet. Wean- 
ing. The nursing bottle. Milk for the baby. 
The baby's table manners. His bath. Cleans- 
ing his eyes and nose. Relief of colic. Care 
of the diaper. 

CHAPTER IX 

THE MOTHER 

The school child. Breakfast, Luncheon, 
Supper. Aiding the teacher at home. Manual 
training. Utilizing the collecting mania. Phy- 
sical exercise. Intellectual exercise. Forming 
the bath habit. Teething. Forming the tooth- 
brush habit. Shoes for children. Dress. Hats. 

CHAPTER X 

CARE OF THE PERSON 

The mother's duty toward herself — Her dress. 
Etiquette and good manners. The Golden Rule. 
Pride in personal appearance. The science of 



viii CONTENTS 

beauty culture. Manicuring as a home employ- 
ment. Recipes for toilet preparations. Nail- 
biting. Fragile nails. White spots. Chapped 
hands. Care of the skin. Facial massage. Re- 
cipes for skin lotions. Treatment of facial blem- 
ishes and disorders. Care of the hair. Diseases 
of the scalp and hair. Gray hair. Care of eye- 
brows and eyelashes. 

CHAPTER XI 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

The prevalence of good receipts for all save 
meat dishes. Increased cost of meat makes 
these desirable. No need to save expense by 
giving up meat. The "Government Cook 
jBook." Value of the cuts of meat. 

CHAPTER XII 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

Texture and flavor of meat. General meth- 
ods of cooking meat. Economies in use of 
meat. 

CHAPTER XIII 

RECIPES FOR MEAT DISHES 

Trying out fat. Extending the flavor of meat. 
Meat stew. Meat dumplings. Meat pies and 
similar dishes. Meat with starchy materials. 
Turkish pilaf. Stew from cold roast. Meat 
with beans. Harricot of mutton. Meat salads. 
Meat with eggs. Roast beef with Yorkshire 
pudding. Corned beef hash with poached eggs. 
Stuffing. Mock duck. Veal or beef birds. 
Utilizing the cheaper cuts of meat. 



CONTENTS ix 

CHAPTER XIV 

RECIPES FOR MEAT DISHES 

Prolonged cooking at low heat. Stewed shin 
of beef. Boiled beef with horseradish sauce. 
Stuffed heart. Braised beef, pot roast, and 
beef a la mode. Hungarian goulash. Casserole 
cookery. Meat cooked with vinegar. Sour beef. 
Sour beefsteak. Pounded meat. Farmer stew. 
Spanish beefsteak. Chopped meat. Savory- 
rolls. Developing flavor of meat. Retaining 
natural flavors. Round steak on biscuits. Flavor 
of browned meat or fat. Salt pork with milk 
gravy. "Salt-fish dinner." Sauces. Mock 
venison. 

CHAPTER XV 

HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

Various recipes arranged alphabetically. 



Introduction 

What a tribute to the worth of woman 
are the names by which she is enshrined in 
common speech ! What tender associations 
halo the names of wife, mother, sister and 
daughter/ It must never be forgotten that 
the dearest, most sacred of these names, 
are, in origin, connected with the dignity 
of service. In early speech the wife, or 
wife-man (woman) was the "weaver," 
whose care it was to clothe the family, as it 
was the husband's duty to ''feed" it, or to 
provide the materials of sustenance. Tlie 
mother or matron was named from the 
most tender and sacred of human functions, 
the nursing of the babe ; the daughter from 
her original duty, in the pastoral age, of 
milking the cows. The lady was so-called 
from the social obligations entailed on the 
prosperous woman, of ''loaf-giving," or dis- 
pensing charity to the less fortunate. As 
dame, madame, madonna, in the old days of 
aristocracy, she bore equal rank with the 
lord and master, and carried down to our 



INTRODUCTION xi 

better democratic age the co-partnership of 
civic and family rights and duties. 

Modern science and invention, civic and 
economic progress, the growth of humani- 
tarian ideas, and the approach to Christian 
unity, are all combining to give woman and 
woman's work a central place in the social 
order. The vast machinery of government, 
especially in the new activities of the Agri- 
cultural and Labor Departments applied to 
investigations and experiments into the 
questions of pure food, household economy 
and employments suited to woman, is now 
directed more than ever before to the up- 
lifting of American homes and the assis- 
tance of the homemakers. These researches 
are at the call of every housewife. How- 
ever, to save her the bewilderment of se- 
lection from so many useful suggestions, 
and the digesting of voluminous directions, 
the fundamental principles of food and 
household economy as published by the 
government departments, are here present- 
ed, with the permission of the respective 
authorities, together with many other sug- 
gestions of utilitarian character which may 
assist the mother and housewife to a 
greater fulfillment of her office in the up- 
lift of the home. 



Practical Suggestions 

for 

Mother and Housewife 

CHAPTER I 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 

Her Freedom — Culture a Desideratum in 
Her Choice of Work — Daughters as 
Assistants of Their Fathers — In Law — 
In Medicine — As Scientific Farmers — 
Preparation for Speaking or Writing 
— Steps in the Career of a JournaUst 
— The Editor — The Advertising Writ- 
er — The Illustrator — Designing Book 
Covers — Patterns. 

She, keeping green 
Love's lilies for the one unseen, 
Counselling but her woman's heart. 
Chose in all ways the better part. 

Benjamin Hathaway — By the Fireside. 

The question of celibacy is too large and 
complicated to be here discussed in its 
moral and sociological aspects. It is a 

1 



9 THE SINGLE W02IAN 

condition that confronts us, must be ac- 
cepted, and the best made of it. Whether 
by economic compulsion or personal prefer- 
ence, it is a fact that a large number of 
American men remain bachelors, and a cor- 
responding number of American women 
content themselves with a life of "single 
blessedness." It is a tendency of modern 
life that marriage be deferred more and 
more to a later period of maturity. Ac- 
cordingly the period of spinsterhood is an 
important one for consideration. It is a 
question of individual mental attitude 
whether the period be viewed by the single 
woman as a preparation for possible mar- 
riage, or as the determining of a permanent 
condition of life. In either case the prob- 
lem before her is to choose, like Mr. Hath- 
away's heroine, "the better part." 

The single woman has an advantage 
over her married sister in freedom of 
choice, of self-improvement, and service to 
others. Says George Eliot of the wife, "A 
woman's lot is made for her by the love she 
accepts." The "bachelor girl," on the other 
hand, has virtually all the liberty of the 
man whom her name indicates that she 
emulates. 

To the unmarried woman, especially the 
one who may subsequently marry, educa- 
tion in the broad sense of self-culture and 
development is of primary importance. The 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 3 

question of being should take precedence 
over doing, although not to the exclusion 
of the latter, for character is best formed 
by action. But all her studies, occupations, 
even her pastimes, should be pursued with 
the main purpose of making herself the 
ideal woman, such an one as Wordsworth 
describes, one with : 

"The reason firm, the temperate will, 
Endurance, foresight, strength and skill; 
A perfect Woman, nobly planned 
To warn, to comfort, and command; 
And yet a Spirit still, and bright 
With something of angelic light." 

It is an obviously true, and therefore a 
trite observation, that no one, woman or 
man, should consider that education (using 
the term broadly) stopped with graduation 
from school or college. But the statement 
that a grown person who has not settled 
down to some particular life work, such as 
is often the case with a young unmarried 
woman, should continue at least one seri- 
ous study, will not be so generally accepted 
or acceptable. Yet in no other way may 
that mental discipline be obtained which is 
necessary to the mature development of 
character. Neglect to cultivate the ability 
to go down to the root of a subject, to ob- 
serve it in its relations, and to apply it prac- 
tically, will inevitably lead to superficial 



4 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

consideration of every subject, and even 
ignorance of the fact that this is superficial 
consideration. As a practical result, the 
person will drift through life rudderless, the 
sport of circumstance. She will act by im- 
pulse and chance, and be continually at a 
loss how to correct her errors. The shal- 
lowness with which women as a class are 
charged is due to the fact that, their aim in 
life for a considerable period not having 
been fixed by marriage or choice of a pro- 
fession, they do not substitute some definite 
interest for such remissness, and so form 
the habit of intellectual laziness. 

The study which an unmarried and un- 
employed woman should pursue may be 
anything worthy of thought, but preferably 
a practical subject at which, if necessary, 
the woman is ready to earn her living. 
Many a family has been saved from finan- 
cial ruin by a daughter studying the busi- 
ness or the profession of the father, and, 
upon his breakdown from ill-health, becom- 
ing his right-hand assistant, or, in the case 
of his death, even taking his place as the 
family bread-winner. In these days when 
farming is becoming more and more a ques- 
tion of the farmer's management, and less 
and less of his personal manual labor, a 
daughter in a farmer's family already sup- 
plied with one or more housekeepers may, 
as legitimately as a son, study the science 



THE SINGLE W 031 AN 5 

of agriculture, or one of its many branches, 
such as poultry-raising or dairying, and 
with as certain a prospect of success. Ample 
literature of the most practical and authori- 
tative nature on every phase of farming 
may be secured from the Department of 
Agriculture at Washington, and the various 
State universities offer special mid-winter 
courses in agriculture available for any one 
with a commxon-school education, as well as 
send lecturers to the farmer's institutes 
throughout the State. 

To give examples of women who have 
made notable successes at farming and its 
allied industries would be invidious, since 
there are so many of them. 

Studies that look to the possibility of the 
student becoming a teacher are preeminent 
in the development of mentality. The sci- 
ence of psychology is the foundation of the 
art of pedagogy, and every woman, partic- 
ularly one who may some day be required 
to teach, should know the operations of the 
mind, how it receives, retains, and may best 
apply knowledge. An essential companion 
of this study is physiology, the science of 
the nature and functions of the bodily or- 
gans, together with its corollary, hygiene, 
the care of the health. From ancient times 
psychology and physiology have been con- 
sidered as equally associated and of prime 
importance. "A sound mind in a sound 



6 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

body" is an old Latin proverb. The need 
of every one to "know himself," both in 
mind and body, was taught by the earliest 
''Wise Men" of Greece. The Roman em- 
peror Tiberius said that any one who had 
reached the age of thirty in ignorance of 
his physical constitution was a fool, a 
thought that has been modernized, with an 
unnecessary extension of the age, into the 
proverb, "At forty a man is either a fool 
or a physician." 

The study of psychology is a basis for 
every employment or activity which has to 
■deal with enlightenment or persuasion of the 
public. The person who would like to be- 
come a speaker or writer needs to begin 
with it rather than with the study of elocu- 
tion or rhetoric. The first thing essential 
for him to know is himself; the second, 
his hearers or readers — what is the order 
of progress in their enlightenment. Even 
logical development of a subject is subsi- 
diary to the practical psychological order. 
Formal logic, the analysis of the process of 
reasoning, is a cultural study rather than a 
practical one, save in criticism both of one's 
own work and another's. More cultural, 
and at the same time more practical, is 
the study of exact reasoning in the form 
of some branch of mathematics. Abraham 
Lincoln, when he ''rode the circuit" as a 
lawyer, carried with him a geometry, which 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 7 

he studied at every opportunity. To the 
mental training which it gave him was due 
his success not only as a lawyer, but also as 
a political orator. Every one of his 
speeches was as complete a demonstration 
of its theme as a proposition in Euclid is of 
its theorem. Lincoln once said that "dem- 
onstration" was the greatest word in the 
language. 

Delineation of character is the chief ele- 
ment of fiction, and herein literary aspir- 
ants are particularly weak, especially the 
women, far more of whom than men try 
their hand at short stories and novels, and 
who are generally without that preliminary 
experience in journalism which most of the 
male writers have undergone. It is not 
enough for a novelist to "know life" ; he 
must also know the literary aspect of life, 
must have the imaginative power to select 
and adapt actual experiences artistically. 
Young women who write are prone to re- 
cord things "just as they happened." This 
is a mistake. Aristotle laid down the fun- 
damental principle of creative work in his 
statement that the purpose of art is to fulfil 
the incomplete designs of nature — that is, 
aid nature by using her speech, yet telling 
her story the way she ought to have told it 
but did not. This is his great doctrine of 
"poetic justice." 

The writing of children's stories is pecu- 



8 THE SIJS^GLE WOMAN 

liarly the province of the woman author, 
and here, because of her knowledge of the 
mind of the child, she is apt to be most suc- 
cessful. The best of stories about children 
and for children have been written by 
school-teachers. Of these authors a notable 
instance was the late xVlyra Kelly, whose 
adaptations in story form of her experi- 
ences as a teacher to the foreign population 
of the "East Side" of New York will long 
remain as models of their kind. 

Journalism is a sufficient field in itself 
for a woman writer in which to exercise 
her ability, as well as a preparation for 
creative literary work. The natural way 
to enter it is by becoming the local corre- 
spondent of one of the newspapers of the 
region. In this work good judgment in 
the choice of items of news, variety in the 
manner of stating them, and logical order 
in arranging and connecting them should 
be cultivated. The wTiting of good, plain 
English, rather than ''smart" journalese 
should be the aim. Stale, vulgar and in- 
correct phrases, such as ''Sundayed," and 
"in our midst," should be avoided. There 
are two tests in selecting a news item : ( i ) 
Will it interest readers? (2) Ought they 
to know it? When by these tests an item 
is proved to be real news that demands 
publication, it should be published regard- 
less of a third consideration, which is too 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 9 

often made a primary one : Will it please 
the persons concerned? This consideration 
should have weight only in regard to the 
manner of its statement. When the news 
is disagreeable to the parties concerned, it 
should be told with all kindness and charity. 
Thus the facts of a crime should be stated, 
who was arrested for it, etc. ; but there 
should be no positive statement of the guilt 
of the one arrested until this has been legal- 
ly proved. Many a publisher has had to 
pay heavy damages because he has over- 
looked, or permitted to be published, an un- 
warranted statement or opinion of a re- 
porter or correspondent. But even though 
there were no law against libel, the com- 
mandment against bearing false witness 
holds in ethics. 

The woman at home may also become a 
contributor to the newspaper. Her first 
articles should be statements of fact on 
practical subjects, such as the results of her 
own or some neighbor's experiments in a 
household matter of general interest, or 
reminiscences of matters of local history 
that happen to be of current interest. Thus 
when a new church is erected, the history 
of the old one may be properly told. Here 
the amateur journalist may practise her- 
self in interviewing people. 

After such a preparation as this, one may 
confidently enter the active profession of 



10 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

journalism as a reporter, preferably upon 
the paper for which she has been writing. 
Since in entering any profession opportun- 
ity for improvement and advancement in it 
is the first consideration, the young reporter 
should cheerfully accept the low salary that 
is paid beginners. There is no discrimina- 
tion on account of sex in the newspaper 
world. Copy is paid for according to its 
amount and quality, regardless of whether 
it was written by a woman or a man. 
Women labor here, as elsewhere, under 
physical disabilities in comparison with men, 
and yet in compensation they have the ad- 
vantage over men in their special adapta- 
tion to certain features of newspaper work, 
such as the interviewing of women, writing 
household and fashion articles, etc. There 
are more chances for this kind of special 
work in large cities, and here the aspiring 
newspaper woman may go, when she has 
proved her ability. 

Mrs. Ida Husted Harper, who stands in 
the front rank of newspaper women, has 
tersely stated the duties a woman reporter 
must undertake and the sacrifices she must 
make, as follows : ''The woman who wishes 
to be a newspaper reporter should ask her- 
self if she is able to toil from eight to fif- 
teen hours of the day, seven days in the 
week ; if she is willing to take whatever 
assignment may be given; to go wherever 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 11 

sent, to accomplish what she is delegated 
to do, at whatever risk, or rebuff, or in- 
convenience ; to brave all kinds of weather ; 
to give up the frivolities of dress that 
women love and confine herself to a plain 
serviceable suit; to renounce practically the 
pleasures of social life ; to put her relations 
to others on a business basis ; to subordinate 
personal desires and eliminate the *ego' ; to 
be careful always to disarm prejudice 
against and create an impression favorable 
to women in this occupation ; to expect no 
favors on account of sex ; to submit her 
work to the same standard by which a man's 
is judged." 

The salaries earned by women as report- 
ers are, with a few notable exceptions, not 
large. As low as $8 and $io a week are 
paid to beginners; from $15 to $25 a week 
is considered a fair salary, and $30 a week 
an exceptionally good one for a woman 
who has not received recognition as a thor- 
oughly experienced reporter. 

It is from the ranks of newspaper women 
who have gone to the large cities and made 
a name for themselves as capable reporters 
that the editorial staffs of the magazines 
are recruited. As a rule they obtain their 
introductions by magazine contributions 
chiefly of special articles on subjects in 
which they have made themselves experts. 
The salaries of these positions range from 



12 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

$25 a week for assistant editors to $50 and 
upward for the heads of departments. 

Book piibHshers employ women of this 
class to edit and compile works upon their 
specialties. Quite a number of women in 
New York earn several thousand dollars a 
year each at such work, while continuing 
their regular editorial labors. 

Many newspaper women drift naturally 
into advertising writing, which is well-paid 
for when cleverly done. Since the goods 
chiefly advertised are largely for women, 
women have the preference as writers of 
advertisements. Then, too, manufacturers 
and advertising agents pay well for ideas 
useful in promoting the commodities of 
themselves or their clients. Here the 
woman at home may find out whether she 
has special ability as an advertising writer, 
by thinking out new and catchy ideas for 
the promotion of articles which she sees 
are widely advertised, and mailing these to 
the manufacturers. It is well if she have 
artistic ability, so that she may make de- 
signs of the ideas, though this is not essen- 
tial. 

It is the advertising columns of the news- 
papers and magazines, even more than the 
reading matter, which give a demand for 
work in illustration. To the woman who 
has talent rather than genius in drawing, 
illustration and commercial art afiford a far 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 13 

safer field, in respect to remuneration, than 
the making of oil-paintings and water-col- 
ors. If ability in drawing is conjoined with 
ability in designing and writing advertise- 
ments, the earnings are more than doubled. 
Since payment for the individual drawing 
is more customary than employing an art- 
ist at a fixed salary, illustrating and the de- 
signing of advertisements can be done at 
home. There are many young girls just 
out of the art-school who earn from $25 to 
$50 a week by such ''piece-work." 

Akin to this work is the designing of 
book-covers, for which publishers pay from 
$15 to $25 each. 

Of a more mechanical nature is making 
the drawings for com.mercial catalogues, 
and the prices paid are low, $9 a week being 
the rule for beginners. Designers of pat- 
terns, etc., for various manufacturers re- 
ceive a similar amount at first. They may 
hope, after several years of experience, to 
rise to $25 a week, or possibly $30 or $35. 



CHAPTER n 

THE SINGLE WOMAN 

Teaching — Teaching Women in Society — 
ParHamentary Law — Games — Book- 
reviewing — Manuscript-reading for 
PubHshers — Library Work — Teaching 
Music and Painting — Home Study of 
Professional Housework — The Un- 
married Daughter at Home — The 
Woman in Business — Her Relation to 
Her Employer — Securing an Increase 
of Salary — The Woman of Independ- 
ent Means — Her Civic and Social 
Duties. 

Teaching is a profession that is particu- 
larly the province of the unmarried woman. 
The best teachers are those who have 
chosen it as their life-work, and have there- 
fore thoroughly prepared themselves for it. 
A girl who takes a school position merely 
for the money that there is in it, expecting 
to give it up in a year or so, when she 
hopes to marry, is inflicting a grievous 

14 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 15 

wrong on the children under her charge. 
There are other remunerative employments 
where her lack of serious intention will not 
be productive of lasting injury. Lack of 
preparation for teaching generally goes 
with this lack of intention, doubling the 
injury. Against this the examination for 
the school certificate is not always a suffi- 
cient safeguard, since many girls are clever 
enough to ''cram up" sufficiently to pass the 
examination who have not had the perse- 
verance necessary to master the subjects 
they are to teach, not to speak of that in- 
terest in the broad subject of pedagogy, 
without which the application of its prin- 
ciples in teaching the various branches is 
certain to be neglected. Enthusiasm in her 
profession, a whole-hearted interest in each 
pupil as an individual personality should 
characterize every teacher, for next to the 
mother, she plays the most important part 
in the development of the coming genera- 
tion. 

There is a general complaint that the 
salaries of school-teachers are too low, 
measured by the rewards of persons of cor- 
responding ability in other professions. 
When, however, the certainty of pay and 
the virtual assurance that the employment 
is for life if good service is rendered, are 
considered, together with the respect ac- 
corded the teacher by the community and 



16 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

the fact that her work necessarily tends to 
the cultivation of her mind, the lot of the 
school-teacher must be reckoned as one of 
the most favored. Americans are more 
prone than any other people to spend money 
on education, and this spirit is ever increas- 
ing, so that the school-teacher is more cer- 
tain than the member of any other profes- 
sion that she will be rewarded worthily in 
the future. The establishment of the Car- 
negie pension fund for retired college pro- 
fessors is an indication of this growing 
spirit, as well as the recent advance of the 
salaries of public school teachers in New 
York City and elsewhere, in recognition of 
the increase in the cost of living. 

To the bright v/oman wdio is interested 
in the study of civics, political economy, 
and sociology, there is opportunity to earn 
a living at home by organizing classes in 
these subjects among the club-women of 
her town. Teachers of parliamentary law 
are in especial demand. The organization 
of a mock congress for parliamentary prac- 
tise is the most entertaining as well as the 
most improving play in which women can 
join. There is also a demand among women 
w^ho seek an intellectual element in their 
recreation for instruction in the games of 
bridge-whist, whist, and chess. Bridge- 
whist is the most popular, largely because 
of the desire to win money and valuable 



THE SINGLE WOMAN IT 

prizes at the game. Then, too, a greater 
amount of time is spent at it than is legiti- 
mate for recreation. For moral reasons, 
therefore, the teaching of it cannot be rec- 
ommended. Straight whist is also played oc- 
casionally for money, but this practise, hap- 
pily, is rapidly becoming obsolete. Chess, 
except among professionals, is played 
purely for sport, and is therefore the best 
of games to study. Unfortunately there is 
very little demand for instruction in it by 
women ; nevertheless, it is the best of all 
games for cultivating the analytical power 
of the mind, a faculty in which women, as 
a rule, are weak. 

This power may, with equal pleasure and 
greater profit, be gained by paying special 
attention, in the reading of books and maga- 
zines, to literary style and construction. The 
average reader assimilates only a small per- 
centage of what he reads. The careful 
thought which the author puts into his man- 
ner of presentation, no less than into the 
matter, is appreciated by very few of his 
readers, and by these only to a limited ex- 
tent. Especially is this true of fiction. If 
one wishes to become an author, he should 
first cultivate this power of criticism, al- 
ways accompanying the study by exercises 
in reconstruction of faults in the author 
read. Thus, wherever a sentence appears 
awkward in expression, the reader should 



18 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

revise it; wherever there is a seeming er- 
ror in the logical development of a subject, 
or the psychological development of a fic- 
titious character, he should reconstruct it. 
Nothing is so helpful to a writer as self- 
criticism. Thus Mrs. Humphrey Ward has 
recently confessed that the happy ending 
of her *'Lady Rose's Daughter" was an ar- 
tistic error, false to psychology, her heroine 
being doomed to unhappiness by her char- 
acter. After creating his characters, and 
placing them in situations where their in- 
dividuality has proper scope for action, the 
author must let them work out their own 
salvation. A thoroughly artistic work is 
marked throughout by the quality of *'the 
inevitable,' and for this the reader should 
always be seeking. There is no surer indi- 
cation of shallowness than the desire to 
read only about pleasant subjects and char- 
acters and events. It is akin to the habit 
of ignoring the existence of everything dis- 
agreeable in life, which Dickens has satir- 
ized in his character, Mr. Podsnap. And 
*'Podsnappery" exists among women even 
more than among men, because of their 
more sensitive emotional nature. If women 
are to join with men in making the world 
better, they must not blink at the misery 
and vice about them, and the evil elements 
in human nature and society which produce 
these. To be good and brave is better for 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 19 

a grown woman than to be "sweet" and "in- 
nocent," in the limited sense of these terms. 
A woman, Hke a man, should "see Hfe 
steadily, and see it whole." 

The foundation of a critical habit in read- 
ing has a practical bearing, inasmuch as it 
is a direct training for the positions of 
book-reviewer and manuscript reader for 
magazine and book publishers. Since 
women read more than men, the woman's 
view of a manuscript is often preferred by 
publishers. Therefore there are more 
women than men in the position of literary 
adviser. These are paid salaries ranging 
from $25 to $50 a week. Manuscripts are 
read by the piece for from $3 to $5 each. 
Book reviews are paid for at all prices, from 
the possession of the book alone to the pay- 
ment of a cent a word. It is best for the 
aspiring critic to practice herself on book 
reviews first. In these she can with profit 
display her power to analyze the artistic 
construction of books, and so develop her 
abilities as a manuscript reader. 

The knowledge of books and the ability 
to digest their contents are necessary to the 
making of a library worker, an employment 
which the great increase in libraries, 
through the benefaction of Andrew Car- 
negie and others, is offering to thousands 
of American women. The salaries are low, 
but in considering entering upon the work. 



90 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

weight should be given to the opportunities 
for Hterary knowledge and culture it af- 
fords and its refined surroundings. The 
making of a descriptive catalogue of the 
home library, using the card index system, 
forms an ideal test for the young woman 
who is uncertain whether she has the taste 
and ability required in this sort of work. 
To the student in the home, even though 
she intends to follow some other vocation, 
such as teaching or writing, such an in- 
ventory of her intellectual store-house will 
be invaluable. It matters not how small 
the library is, for ''intensive l Uivation" is 
as profitable in mental culture as in agri- 
culture. 

Even such accomplishments as music and 
painting are most cultural when pursued 
as if the intention of the student were to 
teach them. Knowledge of technique and 
of the methods by which its difficulties are 
overcome is the foundation of all appreci- 
ation of art. The only true connoisseur is 
the one who can enter into the delight felt 
by the artist in creating his work. Exer- 
cise leads to invention. The ancients well 
said that the contortions of the sibyl gen- 
erated her inspiration. Critics have been 
sneeringly defined as "those who have failed 
in literature and art," but this is not true 
of the greatest critics, who never carried 
their creative work to the point of success 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 21 

simply because they had found a better 
vocation in criticism before reaching such 
a point. What a loss to the world it would 
have been had Ruskin developed into a 
painter, even a great one, instead of the 
master interpreter and teacher of painting 
that he did become ! 

Household employments, such as cooking, 
needlework, etc., as vocations for the un- 
married woman, no less than the married, 
need only be mentioned here, as their ap- 
propriateness for the girl at home is obvi- 
ous, and they are fully discussed elsewhere 
in this serie^r It should be suggested, how- 
ever, that the greater leisure of the unmar- 
ried woman enables her to try experiments 
in these subjects while the married house- 
wife is too fully occupied by the routine of 
her duties to undertake them. Indeed, if a 
woman become a notable cook after mar- 
riage, it is often a sign that she is not a 
notable wife or mother. 

It is an old saying that, 

"My son's my son till he gets him a wife, 
But my daughter's my daughter all her life." 

By the common bond of sex, a daughter is 
her mother's natural companion in sympa- 
thy, however separated from her in dis- 
tance. Therefore, when she lives at home, 
what a special obligation is there to be her 



92 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

mother's comfort and dependence! Even 
though she acquire greater skill in house- 
hold affairs, she should still resign herself 
to the subordinate place of assistant. 

The thought that she is becoming useless 
is the chief dread of a woman who has been 
a managing worker all her life, and her 
daughter should carefully avoid bringing 
this to her mind, indeed, should so act that 
the ageing mother retains the management 
of the house, even though her labors dimin- 
ish. In respect to the direction of children, 
the elder daughter should take a hint from 
the manner in which the school-teacher sup- 
plements rather than supplants the mother 
in her care of the young people, leading to 
a difference in the kind of regard which 
these feel for them. The sister should al- 
ways consider herself simply as the eldest, 
most experienced of the children, and so 
the natural monitor of the group, and, when 
necessary, the mediator with the parents. 

In a similar fashion the unmarried woman 
should act toward her neighbors who are 
wives and mothers. In matters where the 
interests of children and households are of 
chief concern she should resign the leader- 
ship to the married women, and, after them, 
to the professional teachers. Religious, so- 
cial, and civic matters, wherein as a church 
member and a citizen she is on an equal 
iooting with wives and teachers, afford her 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 23 

ample scope for exercising her instinct for 
leadership. 

Every unmarried woman who lives alone 
should, whether or not she possess an in- 
come, have a vocation. Earnings and 
wages are not alone good in themselves, 
but are an additional gratification, in that 
they supply a proof that the earner's service 
is of worth to the world. Some day, when 
social conditions are so adjusted that econ- 
omic competition is really free, and wealth 
cannot be obtained save by service, money 
will be a proper measure of standing in the 
community. It is all the more a duty now, 
both to herself, her class, and to society, 
that the woman who works should contend 
to the last cent for her part of the wealth 
that is created by the business in which she 
is engaged. Where her work is equal to 
a man's, she should contend for wages 
equal to his ; where it is inferior, she should 
be willing to accept less ; where superior, 
she should demand more. In these mat- 
ters women are apt to be either too com- 
plaisant or too clamorous. They should 
first be sure that they are justified in their 
claims, and then, if right, be firm in their 
demands, and, if wrong, be resigned to 
abandon them. The law of supply and de- 
mand acting in the labor market allots 
wages between workers with natural jus- 
tice — certainly more equitably than the in- 



24 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

terested opinion either of employer or em- 
ployee. 

It will be seen that the woman in business 
needs to study the fundamental elements of 
political economy even more than the house- 
wife. Books and magazines are filled with 
superficial, obvious advice as to the way in 
which women as employees should conduct 
themselves toward their employers and fel- 
low workers, but rarely is there a hint given 
of the actual rights and obligations of these 
relations, upon which the proper conduct is 
based. 

Employment is a business contract be- 
tween employer and employee, in which 
there is no legal or moral obligation for 
either party to exceed the terms. Owing 
to an over-supply of labor, wages may be 
exceedingly low, even down to the starva- 
tion point, but for this condition the em- 
ployer, if he be not also a monopolist, is 
not responsible. Indeed, as employer, his 
presence in the labor market as an element 
of demand raises the market wage. In 
fact, it is only by his increasing his business 
that he can raise wages. If he pay more 
to his employees than he needs to, or is 
profitable for him, this increase is not real 
wages, but a gratuity, something no self- 
respecting person likes to take. Some other 
class in society created this condition, and 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 25 

it is this class that the low-paid workers 
should blame, and, as citizens, take meas- 
ures against, not the employers. Indeed, 
they should consider these as their natural 
allies in making better economic conditions. 
Accordingly, the woman in business 
should have sympathy for her employer, 
who owing to the prevalent condition of 
shackled competition has troubles of his 
own. She should aid him by loyal, efficient 
work, thus, and only thus, establishing a 
moral claim upon him to recognize her loy- 
alty in kind. Personal relations, except of 
this nature, should not be sought by the 
employee, particularly if she is a woman. 
Outside of the office or shop she may m.eet 
and treat her employer as a fellow citizen 
and member of society, under the common 
rights of citizenship and the proper social 
rules, but in business hours she should obey 
the strict ethics of business. Thus she may 
don what dress she will when her work is 
done, adopt all the eccentricities of fash- 
ion she pleases, but she should wear with 
cheerfulness, and even pride, the simple 
dress prescribed, for good and sufficient 
reasons, as her working costume. Even 
when no such regulations are made, her 
good sense and taste should lead her to 
adopt a modest, practical working dress, 
simple mode of arranging the hair, etc. 



26 THE SINGLE WOMAN 

This is always agreeable to customers, and 
it is by pleasing these she best pleases her 
employer. 

Stenographers and secretaries have a 
special obligation to keep sacred the con- 
fidences of their employers. If they find 
that in so doing they are made instruments 
in perpetrating frauds on other business 
men, or the community in general, they 
have no right to expose these. Their only 
proper course is to resign their positions, 
holding sacred, however, the knowledge 
gained while acting as employees. It is 
only when formally relieved of this obliga- 
tion by legal compulsion to testify in court 
that they may reveal this knowledge. 

While it is the custom of an employer to 
demand references of the employee, and not 
give them for himself, the only safe course 
for a woman seeking employment is to look 
into the character of the man for whom 
she is to work, and the nature of his busi- 
ness. This she may do indirectly in the 
case of character, and directly in the case 
of nature of business. If the employer re- 
fuses to impart this, saying, "Your work 
will be to do whatever I ask you," it is a 
blind, and therefore dangerous contract into 
which you are entering, and you should 
withdraw from it in time. 

When an employee has proved her effi- 
ciency, and has seen that it is producing 



THE SINGLE WOMAN 27 

an amount of returns to the business of 
which she is not receiving her proportion- 
ate share, it is her right and duty to ask 
for an increase in wages. If she fails to 
receive this, she should investigate the con- 
ditions in the labor market of her class, and 
guide her action accordingly. If she finds 
that there is a demand for workers of her 
ability at the higher wage, she should 
again proffer her request to her employer, 
with a statement of this fact. If he still 
refuses the increase, she should resign her 
position, upon proper notice, and seek em- 
ployment elsewhere. 

When the unmarried woman employs 
herself in free service for the public good 
there will be no need for her to contend 
for the proper returns, which will be the 
love and respect of the community, given 
her in full measure. In comparison with 
these rewards, the honors of club president 
and society leader, for which many women 
contend with a rivalry that surpasses in 
bitterness contests for political honors 
among men, are mean and empty. The 
words of the Master to His disciples, that 
he who would be first among them should 
be servant to his fellows, should be taken 
to heart by American women, before whom 
are opening new and vast opportunities for 
the display of pride and ambition no less 
than for modest, faithful service. 



CHAPTER III 

THE WIFE • 

Nature's Intention in M a r r i a g e — T h e 
Woman's Crime in Marrying for Sup- 
port — Her Blunder in Marrying an In- 
efficient Man for Love — The Proper 
Union — Mutual Aid of Husband and 
Wife — Manipulating a Husband — By 
Deceit — By Tact — Confidence Between 
Man and Wife. 

"Her very soul is in home, and in the dis- 
charge of all those quiet virtues of which home 
is the centre. Her husband will be to her the 
object of all her care, solicitude and affection. 
She will see nothing but by him, and through him. 
If he is a man of sense and virtue, she will sym- 
pathize in his sorrows, divert his fatigue, and 
share his pleasures. H she becomes the property 
of a churlish or negligent husband, she will suit 
his taste also, for she will not long survive his 
unkindness." 

Sir Walter Scott — Waverley. 

Marriage is the crown of woman's life, 
a dignity that is all the more honorable be- 
cause it is of general expectation and reali- 

28 



THE WIFE 29 

zation. There is a presumption that the 
unmarried woman has missed the central 
and significant reason for her existence, the 
perpetuation and nurture of the race, and 
that the burden is upon her for compen- 
sating society by other services for this lost 
opportunity. Marriage for a woman means 
attainment first and fulfilment after, the re- 
ward given in advance of labor, and there- 
fore entailing a special moral obligation 
that it be justified in its fruits. Nature 
gives the future mother peace of mind, rest 
from doubt as to career and from responsi- 
bility as to breadwinning, in order that she 
may tranquilly devote herself to her special 
function as the maker of the home. 

The fact that in the normal home the 
wife is relieved from the necessity of earn- 
ing the living of the home sometimes has 
the effect of making her careless about ex- 
penditure. The thoughtless wife, and here 
thoughtless means selfish, assumes that the 
problem of providing is "up to" the husband 
and takes no care to aid him in its solution. 
If the suggestion of her being a burden to 
him ever does cross her mind, she is ready 
to excuse herself by consolatory sayings 
such as **Two can live cheaper than one," 
the truth of which, though universal when 
every wife was a producer of such things 
as clothing that are now bought, is now the 
case only in agricultural homes, a*^d even 



30 THE WIFE 

there has lost a great deal of its force. Men 
do not marry now, as they once did, for 
economic reasons, but rather in spite of 
them, for the higher rewards of love and 
companionship of wife and children, and 
this the wife should recognize by giving her 
husband the things for which he has made 
his economic sacrifice. In the old days a 
man who did not marry paid for his liberty 
by loss of physical comfort and wealth. 
Thus Hesiod, one of the earliest Greek 
poets, in his Farmer's Almanac called 
"Works and Days," coupled the marrying 
of a wife with the purchase of a yoke of 
oxen and a plow as the first things need- 
ful in beginning to farm, and this in despite 
of the fact that he was a woman-hater. 

Now it is the woman who is tempted to 
marry for economic reasons, to be certain 
of material support while she exercises her- 
self in those household avocations and so- 
cial pleasures which constitute the main 
activities of women. This is a legitimate 
consideration only when the interest of the 
man is also taken into account. Marriage 
to a man whom she does not love is a crime 
for any woman ; giving falsely the oflFerings 
of love for material things is harlotry even 
though legitimated by vows and ceremonies. 

On the other hand, marriage for love 
to a man who cannot support her is a sad 



THE WIFE 31 

mistake for a woman who Is not able or 
willing to take the place of breadwinner, 
for such a union defeats its own purpose. 
Therefore, in kindness to the man as well 
as to herself, such a woman should satisfy 
herself that he can support her, not neces- 
sarily in "the style to which she has been 
accustomed," but in the style necessary for 
her to perform the duties of homemaker 
and mother. Those marriages are the hap- 
piest where a wife can also enter into sym- 
pathy with her husband's business ambitions 
in particular and ideals of life in general. 
Here she is peculiarly his helpmate. He 
can hire a housekeeper, but not a com- 
panion of his bosom. 

A girl properly reared will naturally be 
drawn to a man complementary to her in 
character — not "opposite," as is so often 
said. Opposition implies antagonism, which 
would be the ruin of home life. The term 
complementary implies similarity in the 
main elements of character with adaptable 
differences. Good qualities, such as strength 
and delicacy, may complement each other, 
but not evil and good qualities, such as 
brutality and tenderness. As Scott says in 
the quotation at the head of this chapter, a 
tender wife may suit the taste of a churlish 
husband, but only by not long surviving his 
unkindness. While such opposition may not 



32 THE WIFE 

result in actual death, it certainly leads to 
the demise of all that makes life worth 
living. 

A woman should not expect to find a 
perfect husband. Indeed, her chief useful- 
ness to him will be in her strengthening his 
weak points, and cultivating his right in- 
clinations until they are confirmed habits. 
Yet in this work she should realize the im- 
perfections in herself, and respond to the 
similar aid he gives her by his example and 
suggestions. Mutual aid is the great bond 
of marriage, as it is of all human relations. 

Women, from their weaker condition, 
have from ages past been trained to gain 
their desires from men by indirection. In 
the worst form, this appears as deceit ; in 
the best, as tact. Laying aside the moral 
aspect, deceit is always unwise in a wife, 
since, in time, it defeats its own end. Many 
a woman thinks that she is deceiving her 
husband, since she wins her points, when 
he thoroughly recognizes her machinations, 
and accedes to them without contest simply 
for peace in the household, acquiring a 
feeling of moral superiority to her which, 
though it may be tolerant, is nevertheless 
contemptuous. But when she employs lov- 
ing tact, especially in the improvement of 
her husband's habits and traits, even though 
he realizes it, he is at heart grateful for it. 



THE WIFE 33 

and proud of his wife's superiority in these 
points. 

In those matters where the characters of 
husband and wife are strong enough to per- 
mit frankness, this should always be em- 
ployed. In all the grave problems of life there 
should be perfect confidence between the 
pair who have taken the solemn vows of 
wedlock. Any third party that enjoys a 
superior confidence with one of them, 
whether relative or friend, even the pastor 
or family physician, is the man invoked 
against in the marriage charge, who ''puts 
them asunder." Where unhappily the hus- 
band is irreligious and the wife is forced 
to seek confidential help and consolation 
of her spiritual adviser, she should strictly 
limit these to religious matters, else she will 
grow apart from her husband. George 
Moore, in his collection of stories entitled, 
"The Untilled Field," presents the propen- 
sity of women in Ireland to run to the 
priest for guidance on every question, as 
the chief cause of their domestic tragedies. 
In America the family physician is as apt 
as the pastor to be made the recipient of 
such confidences, with evil results where 
he is not wise enough to advise that the 
husband is the proper person to whom the 
wife should go. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE HOUSE 

Elements in Choice of a Home — The City 
Apartment — Furniture for a Tempor- 
ary Home — Couches — Rugs — Book- 
cases — The Suburban and Country 
House — Economic Considerations — 
Buying an Old House — Building a 
New One — Supervising the Building 
— The Woman's Wishes. 

Of love, of joy, of peace and plenty: where, 
Supporting and supported, polished friends 
And dear relations mingle into bliss. 

James Thomson — The Seasons. 

When husband and wife are truly mated, 
they form a co-partnership in the building 
of the home. In this work the man, occu- 
pied with his business, must leave a large 
part of the direction, even in material 
things, to the woman. And these material 
things are of primary consideration, as 
they are apt to be in every problem of life. 
The happiness of home is immediately and 
always dependent on the kind of a house 

34 



THE HOUSE 35 

used for dwelling and its equipment for 
utility and comfort. 

The first thing to be considered is the 
location of the home. The choice of a 
good neighborhood, from both social and 
sanitary viewpoints, is essential. Good 
neighbors are almost as necessary as good 
air and good drainage. Even before the 
children have come, it is a limitation on the 
function of a home for husband and wife 
to be forced to seek social life entirely out- 
side the neighborhood. If charity (that is, 
loving, helpful associations) begins at home, 
it certainly does not stop at the threshold, 
or leap therefrom over those nearest us. 
The best citizens are those who take a hu- 
man interest in the people of their street, or 
ward, or village, for influence in civic re- 
form is dependent on neighborliness. 

Children are good citizens in this respect 
by nature. Limited to association with 
children of the neighborhood, they form an 
affection for their playmates, which may 
lead to good or evil results, as these play- 
mates are moral or vicious in their ten- 
dencies. Therefore, at the formative period 
of character children should be guarded 
from the debasing influences of improper 
companions, as well as such institutions as 
saloons and low dance-halls which are gen- 
erally found to be the local causes of bad 
neighbors. 



36 THE HOUSE 

Of course, a neighborhood should be se- 
lected where there are good public schools, 
churches, and allied institutions for educa- 
tion and culture. It is always a loss to a 
child in this democratic country to be edu- 
cated in a private school, and yet, especially 
in cities, careful parents are often compelled 
to resort to private instruction for their 
girls and boys because of the lack of refin- 
ing influences in the public schools. This 
is why it is often better for families, when 
the father works in the city, to live in the 
suburbs, where, as a rule, the best public 
schools are to be found. 

But it may not be feasible to live out of 
the city, especially in the first years of mar- 
ried life, and therefore the home life must 
begin in an apartment. The same sanitary 
considerations that obtain in choice of a 
neighborhood are essential in the choice of 
a flat. Good air, light, space, proper plumb- 
ing, and general cleanness are to be sought. 
Owing to the general demand for these 
advantages, and a limited supply of them 
which is due to economic conditions pre- 
vailing in our cities, they unfortunately 
require money, therefore, the flat-seeker 
is compelled to do the best he can with that 
part of his income which he may safely ap- 
propriate for rent. As a rule, this amount 
is not more than one-fourth of income. 

When an apartment house has been prop- 



THE HOUSE 3T 

erly built, and the walls are settled and the 
plastering dry, it generally comes up to the 
standard of comfort and health. Here the 
latest improvements in plumbing will be apt 
to be found, and there will be no danger of 
vermin. Then, too, a concession is more 
apt to be made by the landlord, who is 
anxious to secure tenants, by remission of a 
month's or a fortnight's rent, to be taken 
out after the first month. The landlord of 
such a house is also readier than the owner 
of an old one to make decorations, and even 
alterations, to suit the taste of the tenant. 

The walls in the kitchen should be painted 
rather than papered, and other parts of the 
flat designed primarily for utility. Since 
light is the great desideratum, the paint, 
as a rule, should be light in color, though 
soft and tinted in tone for restfulness to 
the eye. Where wallpaper is used, it should 
have the same characteristics. Fanciful de- 
signs should be avoided. Indeed, plain 
paper forms the best base for artistic color 
schemes in the decoration of rooms, the 
variety in which is best obtained by the 
choice of furniture and pictures and other 
wall ornaments. 

When there is a prospect that living in 
apartments will be only a temporary ar- 
rangement, the furniture should be chosen 
with a view to its adaptability for a house. 
Thus folding-beds should be avoided, and 



38 THE HOUSE 

other articles that gain space by complex- 
ity, however ingenious. Simplicity is the 
quality to be desired. Thus if the exigency 
of space requires that a living room by day 
be converted into a sleeping room, a couch 
should be bought for it, instead of a folding 
bed. It will then serve the purpose of a 
sofa as well as a bed. If it is a box couch, 
further economy will be gained by its use 
as a place to store the bedclothes. But the 
simplest of all arrangements is a divan bed, 
formed of springs and mattress alone, and 
supported on legs nailed to the corners of 
the spring-frame. Over it a cover should 
be thrown during the day, and the pillows 
in use, if there is not room for them else- 
where, should be slipped into covers har- 
monious in color with the couch drapery. 
Such a reclining and sleeping couch may 
also be used in bedrooms, although an iron 
or brass bedstead gives an appearance of 
neatness and personal privacy that is desir- 
able in such chambers. 

Where there is lack of closet space and 
lockers, trunks can be utilized in a flat for 
storing things. Steamer trunks that can 
be placed beneath the beds and couches are 
therefore the best kind to buy. They can 
also be readily converted into window seats 
by making pads of cotton batting to fit the 
tops, and placing over them covers and pil- 
low cushions harmonious with the decora- 



THE HOUSE 39 

tion of the room. Long- flat "wardrobe 
trunks" are sold, which contain at one end 
rods for hanging clothes, so that, when 
stood up on the other end against the wall 
they serve as wardrobes. They always 
look, however, like makeshifts, and so are 
more useful in travelling than in the home. 

Rugs are more desirable than carpets in 
a city apartment, since they can be more 
readily cleaned, and, in case of moving to 
another flat or a house in the suburbs, will 
be more adaptable to the new situation. 

Bookcases in a temporary home should 
be of the unit system, where each shelf is 
a separate box enabling the books to be 
moved without repacking, and permitting 
rearrangement to suit the new situation, or 
the acquisition of new books. Where, how- 
ever, the lower part of wall space is de- 
sired to give room for articles of furniture 
such as couches, shelves can be built, be- 
ginning at four and one-half or five feet 
above the floor. Mr. Edwin Markham, the 
poet, whose home overflows with books, has 
greatly economized space by building for 
them a broad lower shelf, about eighteen 
inches wide, and, three inches above this, 
another shelf twelve inches wide, and, three 
inches above this, a third six inches wide. 
When these are filled with books the titles 
of all are exposed, and, by taking out the 
volume or two immediately in front, a vol- 



40 THE HOUSE 

ume on one of the back shelves is readily 
obtained. Thus, by walking about his room, 
Mr. Markham can look with level eyes for 
the book he wants, and procure it without 
recourse to a chair or stepladder. This 
plan of banking books also lends itself to a 
decorative arrangement of them. 

Except in matters such as these, where 
economy is imperative, the furnishing of a 
city apartment does not differ essentially 
from that of a house, and the reader is 
therefore referred to the discussion of this 
in the following pages. 

The suburban, village, or country home 
differs from the city apartment, or even 
city house, in that it has been built with- 
out the primary consideration of space. It 
is separated from other houses, even though 
by the narrowest space of green lawn, that 
gives a house the individuality and inde- 
pendence without which it is hard for it to 
gather the associations of home. Even 
when a detached house is found in a city, 
its architecture is generally hampered by 
its adaptation to its narrow grounds. It 
rarely has that rounded development of 
character which is as desirable in a home as 
in a person. 

In selecting a rented home in the sub- 
urbs, the cost of the husband's transporta- 
tion to and from the city should be added 
to the rent to keep this within the proper 



THE HOUSE 41 

ratio to income, just as the difference in 
price of provisions should be considered in 
that portion allotted to food. Provisions, 
even country produce, are often dearer in 
suburban communities than in the city, and 
less saving can be made by close marketing, 
because the farmers and gardeners find it 
more profitable to send their produce to the 
center of greatest demand, and therefore of 
readiest sale, even though it costs more for 
transportation than to the smaller markets 
near by. So suburban grocers and provi- 
sion men are w^ont to buy in the city mar- 
kets, and add the cost of transportation 
back from the city, and an additional profit 
for the transaction, to the price to the con- 
sumer. 

Owing to the close competition for house- 
holders among real-estate men, it is now 
almost as easy to purchase a suburban 
home as it is to rent one, and it is there- 
fore advisable to do this. The interest on 
purchase, and the fixed charges of taxes, 
insurance, water rent, etc., should be 
counted as rent, but a higher percentage of 
income may be safely allotted to these than 
to rent proper, since the purchase is also 
an investment. As a rule, the increase of 
land value near a growing city will con- 
siderably exceed the diminution in the value 
of the improvements. Indeed, owing to 
the constant advance of cost of building 



42 THE HOUSE 

material in recent years, there is often en- 
hancement rather than depreciation in the 
house value. 

For these economic reasons it is advis- 
able to buy an old house when its cost is 
less than the cost of constructing a new 
one of the same desirability. The home- 
seeker, however, should curb his propensity 
to make extensive alterations, for, one lead- 
ing to another, he will find at the end (if 
he ever reaches it) that he has virtually 
built a new house at a cost greater than he 
could afford. 

On the other hand, he should avoid those 
houses built on speculation to sell. In these 
a showy appearance is gained at the ex- 
pense of durability of construction, and the 
purchaser will find that he must pay in 
plumbing, coal bills, and general repairs an 
amount he had not calculated upon as in- 
terest on the home, for, unless he rebuilds 
the house at ruinous expense, these will be 
annual charges. 

The most satisfactory way, and the one 
leading to great enjoyment in satisfying the 
'*nest-building" instinct which possesses 
newly mated people no less than birds, is 
for the owners themselves to plan and 
superintend the building of the home. 
There is an infinite variety of architectural 
plans spread before the homeseeker in 
books and magazines. An examination of 



THE HOUSE 43 

these will be of great value to him in clari- 
fying his hazy ideas, but he should not 
settle upon any one of them without ex- 
pert opinion. He should employ a local 
architect, or at least a builder with prac- 
tical architectural ideas, to examine every 
feature of the plan selected as nearest the 
homeseeker's ideal, and revise it according 
to local conditions, cost and availability of 
material, etc. Money is always well spent 
that relieves one of responsibility, enabling 
him to say thereafter, ''Well, I did every 
thing I could to have the thing done prop- 
erly." 

The woman's wish should be paramount 
in planning the building. The home is her 
workshop, and she should have every con- 
venience she requires to do her work prop- 
erly. Things that appear of minor impor- 
tance to a man, the architect and builder no 
less than her husband, are to her most vital. 
What pockets are to a man or business 
woman in clothes, closets and shelves are to 
a woman in her house, and yet she usually 
has to fight for them with the architect as 
the business woman does for pockets with 
her dressmaker. Unless she has worked 
out the practicability of her ideas, however, 
she will be at a great disadvantage with 
the experts, and therefore it is wise for her 
to make herself as familiar as possible with 
the main principles of building and the 



44 THE HOUSE 

special details of the improvements she de- 
sires, especially as this knowledge will be 
of great use in seeing that the work is done 
as ordered. Where she has not acquired 
this knowledge, and the husband is either 
incompetent or not free to undertake this 
supervision, it is wxll to employ a contrac- 
tor, arranging for thorough, satisfactory 
work, and holding him strictly to the con- 
tract. 

The prime requisite in a house is that 
it be adapted for home life, be a comfort- 
able place in which to sleep, cook, eat, rest 
and read, talk and laugh, and play and 
pray ; in a word, in which to do all the 
work that enables these necessities and 
pleasures to be obtained. Next to the com- 
fort of the family comes that of the out- 
side world. It is desirable, though not es- 
sential, that the home contain facilities for 
entertaining. 



CHAPTER V 

THE HOUSE 

Essential Parts of a House — Double Use of 
Rooms — Utility of Piazzas — Landscape 
Gardening — Water-supply — Water- 
power — Illumination — Dangers from 
Gas — How to Read a Gas-meter — 
How to Test Kerosene — Care of 
Lamps — Use of Candles — Making the 
Best of the Old House. 

The parts that are desirable in a well- 
ordered house may be enumerated as fol- 
lows : Cellar, the kitchen, the storehouse, 
the pantry, the laundry, the dining-room, 
the living or sitting-room, the lavatory, the 
parlor, the hall, the library, the nursery, 
the sewing-room, the bedrooms, including 
guest chamber, the attic, the piazzas. 

Where economy of space must be prac- 
ticed, storehouse and pantry may be com- 
bined, and nursery and sewing-room ; and 
one of the family bedrooms may be devoted 
to the use of the occasional guest. The 
hall may be thrown into the parlor. The 

45 



46 THE HOUSE 

parlor may be properly converted into a 
library and music room, altliough when the 
father is of retiring literary tastes, he 
should have a **den" of his own, where he 
may read and smoke in peace. 

The parlor is too often wasted space in 
a house. As the "best room," and very 
often the largest room, it is reserved for 
reception of guests, weddings, and funerals, 
and at other times shut up in gloomy grand- 
eur from the family, except, perhaps, as 
the place of banishment for a naughty 
child. Except when used as a library and 
music room, it should be one of the smallest 
in the house, and may, indeed, be entirely 
dispensed with. The family living-room is 
not an improper place in which to receive 
a guest, especially one whom it is desired 
should "feel at home." 

Of the rooms for the family, the nursery 
is the best to dispense with, the very young 
children being kept under the mother's 
oversight in her sewing-room, or the attic, 
or a loft in an out-building being fitted up 
for the elder ones as a play-room. In the 
case of the loft, it is well to equip it as a 
simple gymnasium. 

It is mistaken economy to use the living- 
room as a dining-room, since this interferes 
with the orderly work of the house, no less 
than with the comfort of the family. It 
may with propriety, however, be made also 



THE HOUSE 4>r 

the sewing-room, and, in general, the 
mother's managerial office. Here she should 
keep her desk and her household account- 
books, and meet the tradesmen and other 
business callers. It is also more suited than 
the parlor for use as a family reading-room 
and working library. Disorder that be- 
tokens use, such as magazines on the cen- 
ter-table, or of papers on the desk, is here 
not inappropriate. Indeed, it gives a home- 
like appearance even to the social guest. 

China and glassware and silver arranged 
in proper array in wall closets, cabinets, and 
sideboards are the most appropriate decor- 
ations of the dining-room. It is not at all 
necessary that there should be pictures on 
the wall of game, fruit and flowers, or ''still 
life" studies of vegetables and kitchen uten- 
sils. Indeed, these have become so ex- 
pected that a change is quite a relief to a 
guest, who would welcome even the death's 
head that was the invariable ornament of 
the Egyptian feasts. Any pictures which 
are lively and cheerful in suggestion are 
suitable. Those that have a story to tell or 
a lesson to point are never out of place in 
a room frequented by children. 

For convenience the table-linen should be 
kept in drawers or lockers built beneath th^ 
shelves containing the china. A butlerV 
pantry is not an essential when such ar- 
rangements as these are made. 



48 THE HOUSE 

The kitchen, pantry, storeroom, and 
laundry form, as it were, the "factory" of 
the house, with the range as the central 
*'engine." Accordingly they should be 
planned with respect to each other to save 
steps. Fortunately this means also saving 
expense in construction. Architects have 
been most ingenious as well as practical 
in perfecting these arrangements, and the 
housebuilder, therefore, needs no advice 
from us. 

It cannot be too much emphasized, how- 
ever, that the cellar is, from the standpoints 
of sanitation and comfort, the most im- 
portant part of the house. There should 
be no attempt to save expense by limiting 
its proper size, materials for walls, win- 
dows for ventilation, drainage, etc., for 
money so saved will inevitably be paid out 
many times over in coal bills, doctor's fees, 
and, perhaps, undertaker's bills. A dry cel- 
lar must be secured at all costs, for the air 
from it permeates the whole house. Where 
this is damp, it leads not alone to disease 
among the inmates, but to the disintegration 
of the house itself, through what is called 
"'dry rot," but is paradoxically the result of 
dampness. Edgar Allan Poe, in his weird 
story, "The Fall of the House of Usher," 
has given a mystical interpretation of the 
dissolution of an old homestead which 



THE HOUSE 49 

really has a scientific explanation that 
might be found in the cellar. 

The proper floor of a cellar is a layer 
of broken stones in which tile drains are 
laid, having outlets into a common drain, 
and over which a layer of concrete is placed. 
The walls, of plastered stone, brick, or con- 
crete, should rise above the ground far 
enough to permit small windows, and pre- 
vent the admission of surface water from 
rain or snow. These windows should open 
from within, upward, and there should be 
hooks on the ceiling to keep them open for 
ventilation. 

I Where a house is heated by a furnace, 
the style of this should be selected with 
great care, special regard being had to the 
economy of fuel. The systems of steam- 
lieating, hot-water heating, or hot-air heat- 
ing have each their merits, depending on the 
location of the house and the climate of the 
region. The cellar can also be used as a 
storeroom for those things not affected by 
the heat of the furnace, such as perishable 
food requiring an ice-box or a cool place, 
vegetables, especially those with a penetrat- 
ing odor; apples, canned fruit and goods, 
etc., should be kept here, and barrels of 
commodities, such as vinegar, that are 
bought in large quantities. Shelves should 
be built on the walls and hooks hung on 



50 THE HOUSE 

the rafters to increase the facilities for stor- 
age. Articles hung upon the hooks should 
be tied in paper bags. It is well to have 
the cellar ceiled, to keep out the dust of 
the house and reduce the risk of fire. Here, 
of course, is the natural place for the coal- 
bin, and, when there are no out-buildings, 
the man's workshop. The laundry may also 
be placed in the cellar, and, in stormy 
weather, the clothes hung there to dry. In 
the country the cellar is a good place in 
which to build an ice-vault. 

The kitchen should, of course, be airy 
and sunny. The sink should be placed near 
a south window, if possible, to prevent 
freezing of pipes. An iron sink is more 
cleanly than a wooden one, and cheaper 
than porcelain and copper. It should have 
a platform with room for two dishpans, and 
a drying shelf, raised at one end to permit 
drainage. Where economy of space is es- 
sential, this shelf may be removable, per- 
mitting the use for other things of the table 
beneath. 

Two other tables are necessary in a 
proper kitchen equipment, one covered with 
zinc for a work-table, set near the range, 
and the other a plain table set near the 
dining-room, for the prepared dishes. 
There should be three lights, lamps in 
brackets, gas-jets, or electric bulbs, near 
the sink, range and food-table respectively. 



THE HOUSE 51 

The refrigerator should be put outside the 
kitchen, in some such place as a sheltered 
part of the back piazza. Commodities such 
as tea and coffee, not requiring ice, should 
be kept in covered jars, preferably earthen, 
on a dresser or shelf, where the bread-box 
may also stand. There should be a kitchen 
closet for the flour-barrel and sugar-box, 
which should be covered for further pro- 
tection from dust, flies, dampness, etc., and 
for the canned goods in immediate requi- 
sition. 

The stove or range should be selected 
with reference on the one hand to the 
amount of cooking to be done for the fam- 
ily, and on the other to the saving of fuel. 
Where there is a water supply, of course 
there should be a boiler connected with the 
range. This should be large enough to as- 
sure a suflicient supply of hot water for the 
house. There should be a shelf near the 
range for such articles as the pepper-box 
and salt-box which are in constant use in 
cooking, and hooks should be near at hand 
for hanging up the poker, lid-lifter, and a 
coarse towel for use in taking pans from 
the oven. Other shelves and hooks, of 
course, should be put in for the various 
utensils necessary in the kitchen. 

The floor of the kitchen should be cov- 
ered with a good quality of linoleum. A 
perforated rubber mat may be placed at 



52 THE HOUSE 

the sink, although this is not necessary. 
In fact, it is a better plan for the woman in 
the kitchen, as indeed elsewhere, to get rub- 
ber heels for her shoes. The Arabs have 
a proverb that to him who is shod it is as if 
the whole world were covered with leather, 
and rubber heels similarly cause every floor 
in the house, whether bare or carpeted, to 
be equally easy to the feet of the busy 
housewife. 

The laundry should be supplied with two 
tubs, an ironing-table, an ironing-board, and 
a stove for the boiler and the irons. The 
ironing-board should be supported upon 
two *'horses" of the height of the table. The 
table should be supplied with an iron-rest. 

In a well-planned house there should be 
separate bedrooms for every inmate except 
the very small children. It is quite an 
economy in the care of the house that each 
child, at as early an age as possible, should 
have its own room and be taught to take 
care of it. Since the room is designed 
primarily for sleeping, care should be taken 
that the bed be placed in such a position that 
the light falls from behind the sleeper's 
head. The dresser should be so placed that 
the light falls on the face of the occupant 
of the room when he is looking into the 
mirror. Even at the expense of space in 
the bedroom proper, there should be a large 
closet in every sleeping-room. The deeper 



THE HOUSE 5a 

the closet the better, for, by using rods at- 
tached to the back of the closet and pro- 
jecting through its width, whereon clothes- 
hangers may be strung, far more room will 
be obtained for clothes than where hooks 
and nails are employed. By the use of 
these clothes-hangers, too, suits and dresses 
may be kept in much better order. The top 
of the closet may be occupied by one broad, 
high shelf, whereon hats and bonnets may 
be kept in their proper receptacles. Shoes 
should be kept in a drawer at the bottom 
of the closet, rather than thrown on the 
floor beneath the dresser. It is a mistake 
to substitute a curtain for the door of the 
closet, since it is of the first importance to 
keep the clothing free from dust. 

Shelves are better than closets for the 
keeping of the 3ed linen. It is a handy thing 
to have a separate linen closet in the house, 
but this is not essential. The sewing-room 
of the mother is a suitable place for keep- 
ing the linen. Shelves are preferable to 
closets for this purpose. There should also 
be a medicine closet or locker in the 
mother's room which will be handy in case 
of sudden illness among the children. 

In view of the importance of sanitation, 
more thought than is ordinarily allotted to 
it should be given to the lavatory. Where 
there is room to spare, it is best to have 
the bath separate from the toilet, in order 



54 THE HOUSE 

to prevent inconvenience in use. There 
should be a basin and toilet upon the ground 
floor, and a bathroom and toilet upon the 
sleeping floor. The walls of the lavatory 
should be tiled, or, if this is too expensive, 
they should be covered with water-proof 
paper. All toilet arrangements should be 
systematically kept clean, and the necessary 
supplies at all times provided. 

Piazzas may be made to add no less to 
the utility than to the beauty and comfort 
of the house. A lower back piazza, covered 
with vines, is the ideal place in summer 
for eating and such heating labors as iron- 
ing. When thoroughly secured from in- 
trusion, an upper balcony furnishes the best 
of sleeping quarters for one wise and brave 
enough to scout the superstition of the bad 
effects of night air. Many persons of deli- 
cate health, even consumptives, have been 
restored to vigorous strength by sleeping in 
such a place, not only in summer but 
throughout the winter, save in beating 
storms. 

Closely conjoined with forethought for 
utility in the planning of a house is fore- 
thought for beauty. It is well to have an 
artistic imagination in visualizing, as it 
were, the "hominess" of the house as it will 
appear after its rawness has been mellowed 
by time, and its forms have been endeared 



THE HOUSE 55 

by association. This imagination is spe- 
cially essential in the planting of trees, ar- 
rangement of flower gardens, the choice of 
the kind of enclosure, whether hedge or 
fence, and, in general, all that is known 
under' the name of landscape gardening. 

The housekeeper's work is greatly de- 
pendent upon the kind of water supply 
available for the house. In cities and towns 
the kind of supply is fixed for her, but in 
the country she is afforded her freedom of 
choice. She has a choice of water from 
wells or springs, which is more or less 
*'hard," that is, impregnated with lime, and 
water collected from rain or melting snow. 
For household purposes rainwater is the 
more desirable, and, when properly filtered 
and kept in clean cisterns protected from 
the larvae of mosquitoes and other disease- 
bearing insects, it is also the best for 
drinking purposes. To one accustomed to 
drinking hard water from a well or spring, 
rain water is a little unpalatable, but after 
he is accustomed to its use he will prefer 
it. It is always wise to secure an analysis 
of the drinking water of the house, since 
water reputed pure because of its clearness 
and coldness is as apt as any other to be 
contaminated. Where soft water is not 
available for household use, hard water may 
be softened by the addition to it of pearline 



56 THE HOUSE 

or soda, or by boiling, in the latter case 
the lime in it being precipitated to the bot- 
tom of the kettle or boiler. 

When well water is used for drinking 
some knowledge of the geology of the home 
grounds is essential. Thus, because the 
top of a well is on higher ground than the 
cess-pool is no reason for assuming that 
the contents of the latter may not seep into 
the water, for the inclination of the strata 
of the rocks may be in a contrary direction 
to that of the surface of the ground. 

When filters and strainers are used they 
should be carefully cleaned at regular inter- 
vals, since if they are permitted to accumu- 
late impurities they become a source of 
contamination instead of its remedy. Every 
once in a while the housekeeper should take 
off the strainers from the faucets and boil 
them. 

There are many excellent systems for 
obtaining water power for the house in the 
country, each of which has its special ad- 
vantages. The pumping of water to a 
tank at the top of the house by a windmill 
is that most commonly used. This is the 
cheapest method, but the most unsightly. 
Small kerosene or hot-air engines may be 
employed for the power at very slight cost, 
and will prove useful for other purposes, 
such as sawing wood or even operating the 
sewing-machines. Owing to the many in- 



THE HOUSE 57 

ventions for isolated lighting plants by 
acetylene and other kinds of gas, dwellers 
in the country have virtually as free a 
choice of illumination as the people in towns 
and cities. 

Great caution is necessary in the use of 
any form of illuminating gas, since all pro- 
duce asphyxiation. Accordingly, all gas 
fixtures of the house should be regularly 
inspected to see that there is no escape of 
the subtile, destructive fluid. The odor of 
escaping gas which is so unpleasant is 
really a blessing, in that it informs the 
householder of his danger. A cock that 
turns completely around and, after extin- 
guishing the light, permits the escape of 
the gas, is more dangerous than a poison- 
ous serpent. Yet there may be nothing 
radically wrong with this fixture, and the 
use of the screwdriver may make it as good 
as new. Gas should never be turned low 
when there is a draught in the room, nor 
allowed to burn near hanging draperies. 
Care should always be taken in turning out 
a gas-stove or a drop-light to do so at the 
fixture and not at the burner. This is not 
alone safer, but it keeps the rubber tube 
from acquiring a disagreeable odor from 
the gas that has been left in it. 

Great economy in the consumption of 
gas may be secured by the use of Wels- 
bach and other incandescent burners. 



iS8 THE HOUSE 

Where these are not employed, care should 
be taken to select the most economical kind 
of gas tips, and to see that when these be- 
come impaired by use they are replaced. 

In the large cities there is constant com- 
plaint of defective gas-meters, so much so 
that inspectors have been appointed to cor- 
rect this abuse. It has been found, how- 
ever, that many complaints have been un- 
founded because the housewives were not 
able properly to read the meter. Directions 
how to do this will therefore be found use- 
ful. A gas-meter has three dials marking 
up to 100,000 feet, 10,000 feet, and 1,000 
feet respectively. The figures on the sec- 
ond dial are arranged in opposite order 
from those on the first and third dials, and 
this often leads to an error in reckoning. 
However, there should be no trouble in set- 
ting down the figures indicated by the 
pointer on each dial. We first set down 
the figure indicated upon the first dial in 
the units place of a period of three places, 
then that indicated upon the second dial in 
the tens place, and then that indicated upon 
the third dial in the hundreds place. To 
these we add two ciphers, to obtain the 
number of feet of gas that has been burned 
since the meter was set at zero on the three 
dials. From this number we subtract the 
total of feet burned at the time when the 
preceding gas bill was rendered. This is 



THE HOUSE 59 

generally called on the bill "present state of 
meter." The result of the subtraction will 
be the amount of gas that has been burned 
since the last bill was rendered. 
For example : 

95,300, amount indicated on dial. 

82,700, amount marked "present 
state of meter" on preced- 
ing gas bill. 



12,600, amount of gas for which 
current bill is rendered. 

Equal care must be exercised when kero- 
sene is used for illumination, since, while 
it is not so dangerous directly to life, it is 
the chief source of the destruction of prop- 
erty. Accordingly the nature of kerosene 
and the way it illuminates is a profitable 
subject of study if we would prevent de- 
structive fires. Really, we do not burn the 
oil, but the gas that arises from the oil 
when liberated by the burning wick and 
becomes incandescent when fed by the oxy- 
gen of the air. While kerosene requires a 
high temperature for combustion, it is 
closely related to other products of coal oil, 
such as naphtha and gasoline, which become 
inflammable at a low heat and are therefore 
very dangerous. Since the cheap grades of 
kerosene approach these products in qual- 
ity, care should be taken to see that it is of 



60 THE HOUSE 

high "proof" in order to prevent explo- 
sions. The proof required of kerosene dif- 
fers in various States ; that in some is as 
low as I GO degrees Fahrenheit, that is, the 
temperature at which the oil will give off 
vapors that will ignite. This is too low a 
proof, for such a degree of temperature is 
quite common in the household. It is safe 
only to use that kerosene which is at least 
140 degrees proof, for then, even though 
the oil is spilled, there is little danger that 
it will ignite except in the immediate pres- 
ence of flame. There is no danger at all 
in soaking wood with this kind of oil in a 
stove or grate wherein the fire has gone 
out. 

To test kerosene, put a thermometer into 
a cup partially filled with cold water, and 
add boiling water until the mercury stands 
at 130 degrees Fahrenheit. Then take out 
the thermometer and pour two teaspoon- 
fuls of kerosene into the cup and pass over 
it the flame of a candle. If the oil ignites, 
it is unsafe. 

In order to prevent the flame from run- 
ning down into the lamp and causing an 
explosion, the wick should be soft, filling 
the burner completely. The highest effi- 
ciency in the form of illumination is ob- 
tained by round burners, especially those in 
lamps which admit air to the inside of the 
wick and so induce the largest possible 



THE HOUSE 61 

amount of combustion. Such a lamp pro- 
duces quite a high degree of heat, and will 
answer the purpose of an oil-stove in a 
small room. 

Contrary to the popular idea, wicks 
should be carefully trimmed with scissors 
rather than with a match or other instru- 
ment. In extinguishing a lamp one should 
first turn down the wick and blow across 
the chimney, never down the chimney. 

Owing to the fact that the wick is con- 
stantly bringing up oil by capillary attrac- 
tion, whether it is lighted or unlighted, 
lamps in which the wicks have not been 
cared are kept continually greasy. In fact, 
a lamp that is greasy or that gives out a bad 
odor is one that has not been properly 
cared. With due attention, lamps are as 
clean and handy a means of illumination as 
any other form. 

Candles, that are now used chiefly for 
decorative purposes, may still be practically 
employed for carrying light about the 
house. The danger from a falling candle 
carried by a child up to bed is not nearly 
so great as that which may result from 
either spilt oil from a broken lamp or the 
cutting glass of its chimney. 

To those who live in an old house, all 
the foregoing advice should prove a source 
of helpfulness in making the best of the old 
home, rather than of dissatisfaction with its 



62 THE HOUSE 

seeming shortcomings. There are many 
simple, inexpensive ways of making it con- 
form to the model house. Expense need 
only be incurred in sanitary improvement, 
such as the better drainage of the cellar, 
enabling it to be utilized for purposes which 
now crowd the "work-rooms" of the home, 
and the alterations of the windows to per- 
mit better lighting and ventilation. Very 
often a room can be made to exchange pur- 
poses by a simple transference of furniture, 
thus saving the housekeeper steps. A 
woodhouse can be converted into a summer 
kitchen, and the old one, during this season, 
used as a dining-room, though it may be 
found even pleasanter to eat out of doors 
under an arbor or on a wide piazza. A 
porch may be partitioned off into a laundry, 
and the attic ceiled and partitioned for use 
as a bedroom. Very often an old boxed- 
off stairway, built in the days when it was 
thought unseemly to show a connection 
with the upper bedrooms, can be relieved 
of its door and walls, to the increase of 
space in the lower room, and of the beauty 
of its appearance. Indeed, as a rule, there 
are too many doors in an old house. Some 
of these can be altered into open arched 
entrances, making one large commodious 
room out of two little inconvenient ones. 
Unused out-buildings can be turned into 
playrooms for the children, and even sleep- 



THE HOUSE 63 

ing quarters. All these are changes that 
make for the beauty no less than the utility 
of home, as proved by the fact that many 
artists, especially those who have studied 
abroad where old country houses are more 
or less of this unconventional character, o-q 
into the country and alter in this fashion 
old and even abandoned houses into houses 
admired for their charming individuality. 
Illustrations of such "hermitages" fre- 
quently appear in the magazines, and may 
be studied for suggestions. Sometimes the 
alteration is of the exterior only. The re- 
painting in a proper color, or the simple 
creosote staining of a weather-beaten house, 
with the addition of a rustic porch or the 
breaking of a corner bedroom into a bal- 
cony, will sometimes so transform an old 
house that it looks as if it were a new 
creation. 



CHAPTER VI 

FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

The Qualities to Be Sought in Furni- 
ture — Home-made Furniture — Semi- 
made Furniture — Good Furniture as 
an Investment — Furnishing and Deco- 
rating the Hall — The Staircase — The 
Parlor — Rugs and Carpets — Oriental 
Rugs — Floors — Treament of Hard- 
wood — Of Other Wood — How to 
Stain a Floor — Filling as a Floor 
Covering. 

Necessity invented stools, 
Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs, 
And Luxury the accomplished sofa last. 

William Cowper — The Task 

Utility, comfort and elegance are, as 
Cowper shows, the three successive pur- 
poses for which furniture was designed. 
And to-day the order of development re- 
mains also the order of importance. The 
first things to be desired in any article of 
furniture are durability and simple appli- 

64 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 65 

cation to its purpose. These being found, 
a person naturally looks to see if the use 
of them will contribute to his physical 
pleasure as well as his convenience, that 
the back of a chair is the right height and 
curvature to fit his back, and the seat is 
not so deep as to strain his legs ; that the 
table or desk is one he can spread his legs 
under in natural fashion, and rest his el- 
bows upon with ease ; in short, that the 
furniture conforms to his bodily require- 
ments, as the chair and bed of the "wee 
teenty bear" suited exactly the little old 
woman of Southey's tale. Last of all, the 
aesthetic pleasure, the appreciation of 
beauty by the mind, decides the choice in 
cases of equal utility and comfort. The 
artistic considerations are so many that fur- 
niture has become a branch of art, like 
sculpture or painting, with a large liter- 
ature and history of its own. 

Since most authorities on the subject 
largely ignore the questions of utility and 
comfort, devoting themselves to the ques- 
tions of aesthetic style, it v^dll be useful to 
our purpose here to confine the discussion 
to the neglected qualities. As a rule, a 
durable, useful, and comfortable article is 
a beautiful one. At least it has the beauty 
of "grace," by which terms the old writers 
on aesthetics characterized perfect adapta- 
tion to purpose, and the beauty of what 



66 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

they called ''homeliness," or, as we would 
now say, since this term has been per- 
verted, of "hominess," the suggestion of 
adding to the pleasure of the household. 

The quality of "hominess" is greatly in- 
creased in an article of furniture by a frank 
look or "home-made" appearance. There 
is no more delightful occupation for the 
leisure hours of a man or woman, and no 
more useful training for a boy or girl, than 
the making of simple articles of home fur- 
niture. Really, the first article of furniture 
which should be brought into the house is 
a well-equipped tool-chest, and the first 
room which should be fitted up is the work- 
shop. A vast amount of labor will be saved 
thereby in unpacking, adjusting, repairing, 
and polishing the old and the new house- 
hold articles, so that life in the new home 
be begun under the favorable auspices of 
the great household deity, the Goddess of 
Order. When it is further considered that 
often small repairs made by a carpenter 
cost more than a new article, the tool-chest 
will be valued by the family as a most 
profitable investment. 

If it is not possible to procure the proper 
materials and tools for making the entire 
article, some part of the work, the shaping, 
and certainly the staining and polishing, can 
be done at home. If the visitor does not 
recognize the home quality in such an ar- 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 67 

tide, the maker does, and will always have 
a pride and affection for it. 

Many furniture manufacturers give in 
their catalogues designs of semi-made or 
"knock together" furniture, that is, the part^ 
of tables, chairs, etc., cut out and planed, 
which it is intended that the purchaser put 
together himself. These, as a rule, are 
made of good material befitting the hand 
workmanship which will be put upon them, 
and are offered at a considerable reduction 
from the price asked for ready-made fur- 
niture of the same material. 

Furniture stains of excellent quality are 
found in every hardware store and paint 
shop, which can easily be applied by the 
merest amateur. 

It is never wise to buy flimsy furniture, 
however cheap. As a rule, there is too 
much furniture in the American home. It 
is better to get along with a few good, du- 
rable articles, even though a little expens- 
ive, than with a profusion of inferior ones. 
These soon reveal their ''cheap and nasty 
qualities," are in constant need of repair, 
and quickly descend from the place of honor 
in the parlor to be endured a while in the 
living room, then abused in the kitchen, and, 
finally, burnt as fuel. Good wood and 
leather, however, are long in becoming 
shabby, and even then require only a little 



68 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

attention to be restored to good condition. 
When it is considered that in furniture 
there is virtually no monopoly of design or 
invention, and one therefore pays for ma- 
terial and labor alone, and competition has 
reduced these to the lowest terms, the pur- 
chaser is certain to get the worth of his 
money when he pa3^s a higher price for 
durable material and honest workmanship. 
When it is further recalled that our chief 
heirlooms from the former generations are 
tables and chairs and bureaus, it will appear 
that it is our duty to hand down to our 
children furniture of similar durability and 
honest quality. Therefore, money spent 
for good furniture may be considered as a 
permanent investment whose returns are 
comfort and satisfaction in the present, and 
loving remembrance in the days to come. 

So often is the artistic beauty of a house 
destroyed by a bad selection and arrange- 
ment of furniture and choice of inharmoni- 
ous decorations, that many architects are 
coming to advise, and even dictate, the style 
of everything that goes into the house. Thus 
Colonial furniture is prescribed for a resi- 
dence in Colonial style, Mission furniture 
for Mission architecture, etc. There is a 
corresponding movement among makers of 
artistic furniture to plan houses suited to 
their particular styles. Thus "Craftsman" 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 69 

houses and ''Craftsman" furniture are de- 
signed by the same business interest. 

Since, however, the average American 
home is something of a composite in archi- 
tectural design, the housekeeper* may be per- 
mitted to exercise her taste in making selec- 
tions from the infinite variety of styles of 
furniture that are offered her by the manu- 
facturers of the country. It is advisable, 
however, that the furniture in each room 
be in harmony. 

Let us briefly examine the articles of fur- 
niture and styles of decoration appropriate 
for the several rooms. 

The hall, now often the smallest, most 
ill-considered part of the house, was once 
its chief glory. In the old days in England, 
and, indeed, in America, the word was used 
as synonymous with the mansion, as Brace- 
bridge Hall, Haddon Hall, etc. It was the 
largest apartment, the center of family and 
social life. Here the inmates and their 
guests feasted and danced and sang. Grad- 
ually it was divided off into rooms for spe- 
cific purposes, until now in general practice 
it has narrowed down to a mere vestibule 
or entrance to the other rooms, with only 
those articles of furniture in it which are 
useful to the one coming in or going out of 
the house, combination stands with mirror, 
pins for hanging up hats and OA^ercoats, um- 



70 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

brella holder, a chair or so, or a settee for 
the guest awaiting reception, etc. Often 
the chair or settee is of the most uncom- 
fortable design, conspiring with the narrow 
quarters to make the visitor's impression of 
the house and its inmates a very disagree- 
able one. If space is lacking to make the 
hall a comfortable and pleasing room, it 
should be abolished, and the visitor, if a 
social one, taken at once to the parlor, and 
if a business one, to the living-room. 

Where, however, size permits it, the hall 
should be made the most attractive part of 
the house. Here is the proper place for a 
"'Grandfather's Clock," a rug or so of ar- 
tistic design, and a jardiniere holding grow- 
ing plants or flowers. The wallpaper should 
be simple and dignified in design, but of 
cheerful tone. Some shade of red is always 
appropriate. Remember in choosing deco- 
rations that the colors of the spectrum — 
violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, 
red — run the gamut of emotive influence 
from depression to exhilaration. Violet and 
indigo lower the spirits, blue and green hold 
them in peaceful equilibrium, yellow begins 
to cheer them, and orange and red excite 
them. 

However, the color scheme of a hall is 
largely dependent upon the wood-finish, be- 
cause of the amount of this shown in the 
stairs. 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 71 

Dark red is a very suitable color for the 
stair-carpet. The best way to fasten this 
is by a recent invisible contrivance w^hich 
goes underneath the material. Brass rods 
are ornamental, rather too much so, and 
carpet tacks are provoking, both in putting 
down and taking up the carpet. 

Where the hall and stairway are wide 
and room-like, pictures should be hung on 
the walls, interesting in subject and cheer- 
ful in decorative tone. The presence of the 
stairway, especially if this is broken by a 
landing, permits quite a variety of arrange- 
ment. The line of ascent should be fol- 
lowed only approximately. Remember that 
it is a fundamental law of art always to 
suggest a set idea, but never to follow it; 
to have a rule in mind, and then play about 
it rather than strictly pursue it. Art is free 
and frolicking. It gambols along the 
straight path of utility, following the scent 
of airy suggestion into outlying fields and 
by-paths, but always keeping the general 
direction of the path. 

The parlor, when this is not combined 
with the hall, should be furnished and deco- 
rated according to the chief use the family 
intend to make of it. If they are given to 
formal entertainment, the color scheme may 
be in "high key," that is, a combination of 
white with either gold, rose, or green, any 
of which forms a bright setting for gay 



73 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

evening costumes. But this decoration is 
not advisable in the case of the average 
American home, since it is too fine and friv- 
olous for the reception of neighbors in ordi- 
nary dress. A quieter, more dignified col- 
or-scheme should be adopted ; such as gold- 
en brown, with subdued decorations for the 
wall, and ecru-colored lace curtains for the 
windows. The floor may be of hardwood, 
in which case a few medium-sized Oriental 
rugs should be placed on the floor. It is 
not essential that these "match" the wall- 
paper, for they are of the nature of artistic 
household treasures, and so rise autocratic- 
ally above the necessity of conformity. 
Where they are chosen with a view to the 
color scheme, it is advisable to make them 
the means of transition from the hall. If 
this is decorated in dark red, the rugs lead- 
ing from it into the parlor may shade off 
from this into more golden tones. The de- 
sign of the rugs should be unobtrusive. 

The homemaker should not feel that Ori- 
ental rugs are too expensive for considera- 
tion. Every once in a while their is a glut 
of them in the market, owing to an extens- 
ive importation, when they can be purchased 
at a price which will always insure the 
owner getting his money back if at any 
time he wishes to dispose of them. But the 
purchaser should be certain that the bar- 
gains oflfered are real ones, for rug-stores, 



FURNITUBJS AND DECORATION 73 

like trunk-stores, always seem to be selling 
out "at a sacrifice." All Oriental rugs are 
well made, and, with proper usage, will last 
for generations, even enhancing in value. 
Therefore, they are always safe investments. 
Oriental rug-dealers repair rugs at a fair 
price for the time spent in doing so. 

Since the floor space of a room with 
rugs in it is about two-thirds bare, the rugs 
will often not exceed the cost of a good 
carpet. 

Hard woods take best a finish in brown 
or green, that gives an impress of natural 
texture impossible to secure by paint. 
Hardwood floors should be polished at least 
once a week with floor-wax, a simple com- 
pound of beeswax and turpentine, which 
can be made at home, or bought at the 
stores. This is useful for polishing any 
floor or woodwork. When the floor is not 
of hardwood, it may be stained. All va- 
rieties of stains are sold, the most durable, 
though the most expensive being the old- 
fashioned oil oak-stain. For the parlor and 
other floors, and corridors, stairways, etc., 
that do not get much wear, as well as for 
hardwood work in general, varnishing saves 
time and labor in cleaning. 

For proper staining, the wood should be 
thoroughly scrubbed with soap and water; 
then, when dry, brushed over with hot size. 
Use concentrated size, a dry powder, rather 



74 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

than that in jelly form, as it is more con- 
venient. It is dissolved and should be ap- 
plied with a broad paint-brush. The appli- 
cation should be very rapid to prevent con- 
gealing: and setting in lumps on the boards ; 
accordingly the bowl containing the size 
should be set in boiling water until it is 
thoroughly liquid, and kept in this condi- 
tion. The number of coats must depend 
upon the absorbent nature of the boards. 
One coat must be allowed to dry thor- 
oughly before another is applied. Over 
night is a sufficient time for this. Varnish- 
ing also should be done rapidly to prevent 
dust settling on it. It is best done in a 
warm room, without draughts. Do not use 
stains ready-mixed with varnish, as these 
do not last as long, nor look so well as 
pure stains varnished after application. 
When the boards are in bad condition they 
should be first sandpapered. Cracks should 
be filled with wedges of wood hammered in 
and planed smooth. They can also be filled 
with thin paper torn up, mixed with hot 
starch and beaten to a pulp. This can be 
pressed into the cracks with a glazier's 
knife. The use of putty or plaster of Paris 
for this purpose is not so satisfactory as 
these methods. 

For sleeping-rooms and living-rooms, 
which for sanitary reasons it is advisable to 
scrub, the stain should be left unvarnished. 



CHAPTER VII 

FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

The Carpet Square — Furniture for the Par- 
lor — Parlor Decoration — The Piano — 
The Library — Arrangement of Books 
— The ''Den" — The Living-room — 
The Dining-room — Bedrooms — How 
to Make a Bed — The Guest Chamber — 
Window Shades and Blinds. 

Housekeepers often prefer carpets to bare 
floors, and rugs for the reason that they 
''show the dirt" less. It is for this very 
reason that bare floors are best. Dirt is 
something to remove rather than conceal, 
and bare floors and rugs are more easily 
cleaned than carpets. 

Covering the entire floor with plain fill- 
ing, as a base for rugs, is an alternative for 
either hardwood or stained floors. It 
should be in the deeper tone of the color 
employed as a main part of the room's deco- 
ration. 

When carpets are used, those in the hall, 
75 



76 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

parlor, and dining-room should not be fit- 
ted into the corners, but a space should in- 
tervene between their edges and the walls. 
This may be filled with wood-carpetry, 
which, like all devices which suggest contin- 
uation of fine material through unseen 
parts, gives an air of art and elegance at 
comparatively little expense. Otherwise 
the floor, if hardwood, should be finished ; 
if of other wood, stained and varnished. 
The carpet square is kept in position with 
brass-headed pins sold for the purpose. 

Articles of furniture which are suitable 
for a parlor used chiefly as a reception room 
are light side chairs, and a settee, cane- 
seated with dark frames, or willow chairs, 
and settee, stained a dark hue, and briglit- 
ened up with pretty cushions. These are 
not dear, so a little extra expense may be 
incurred in buying the parlor-table, which 
should be graceful in design and of rich 
dark wood, preferably mahogany, or in ma- 
hogany finish. A small table, of similar de- 
sign and finish, should serve for afternoon 
tea, and a pretty desk stand near a window, 
with writing materials for the use of guests. 
There should be a clock upon the mantel- 
piece, and a few other articles of vertu, 
such as a vase or so, a bronze statuette, etc., 
all harmonized by the common possession of 
artistic elegance. 

The pictures in the parlor should possess 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 77 

evident artistic merit. There should be no 
suggestion of amateurishness. Family at- 
tempts at drawing or painting, crayon por- 
traits, etc., all photographs, with the excep- 
tion of those intended as artistic studies, 
should be excluded from the walls. If 
good originals by capable artists are not 
obtainable, fine engravings, etchings, and 
even colored copies of noted pictures may 
take their place. 

A few books, well bound and with con- 
tents worthy of the binding, should lie on 
the parlor table, with a late magazine or so, 
for the entertainment of the waiting guest. 
There should be fresh flowers arranged in 
pretty bowls to add their impress of cheer- 
fulness and beauty to the room. 

In most American homes the parlor is 
also the music room. Since a piano should 
be chosen for quality rather than appear- 
ance, an instrument of any finish is allow- 
able in a room, whatever its decorative 
scheme. Except in a family containing an 
expert performer, a piano should be chosen 
for softness and richness of tone, instead 
of brilliancy. For most households the old 
cottage organ is a more practicable instru- 
ment than the "concert grand" often found 
in a small parlor, where its piercing notes, 
especially in combination with operatic sing- 
ing, are so confined that tones and over- 
tones, which should assist each other, min- 



78 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

gle in jarring confusion. Indeed, when the 
parlor is large and high, a genuine pipe- 
organ built in a recess and harmonizing in 
finish with the woodwork of the room is 
not only the finest decoration possible, but 
the most appropriate musical instrument. 
Those families who possess an old-fashioned 
piano, such as thin and tinkly "square," are 
advised to have it overhauled and refinished 
by a competent piano-repairer, and pre- 
served, if only for practice by the children. 
In case such an instrument has "over- 
strung" wires, it can be restored to a tone 
that is better than that of the usual upright 
piano. 

The parlor that is put to family use is 
usually the best room to fit up for a library. 
In this case the form-and-color scheme of 
furnishing and decoration should differ 
entirely from that when the room is used 
only for the reception of guests. The fur- 
niture should be heavier and larger, indicat- 
ing utility, and its finish, as also that of the 
walls, floor and woodwork, in deep shades 
of the more restful colors of the spectrum. 
Sage-green is a good color for the parlor- 
library. The furniture may be of this or 
even darker hue. There is no better style 
of furniture for the library than the Mis- 
sion, made comfortable by leather cushions. 
If leather is thought too expensive, there 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 79 

are fair substitutes for it in such materials 
as pantasote. But leather should be pro- 
cured if possible. It looks better and wears 
longer, and even when shabby keeps its re- 
spectability. With the Mission furniture 
may be mingled an old-fashioned uphol- 
stered chair or so, such as a large ''Sleepy 
Hollow." A Morris chair is almost as com- 
fortable as this, and perhaps upholds the 
dignity of the room a little better, though 
it does not give the same suggestion of 
"hominess." An old-fashioned sofa, wide- 
seated, and designed to be lain upon, should 
be placed in the room with its head toward 
the light, so that the occupant may read 
while reclining upon it. In almost every 
old house there is a horse-hair sofa, either 
put away in the attic or even in use, which 
can be reupholstered to fit the color-scheme 
of the room. 

Books naturally form the chief ornament 
of the library. It is a mistake to give them 
an elaborate casing. The simplest form is 
the best ; the shelves should run up evenly 
from the floor to a more or less ornamental 
and somewhat projecting top, terminating 
several feet from the ceiling. On this top- 
a bust or so of an author may be appro- 
priately placed, or copies of an ancient sta- 
tue, and on the wall above, between the 
cases of shelves, may hang a few pictures^ 



80 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

not necessarily bookish in suggestion, but 
reposeful in subject and tone, such as land- 
scapes and marines. 

A writing desk of comfortable size, with 
its chair, is essential in every library. It 
should be as far away as possible from the 
type of the modern business desk, and there- 
fore an old-fashioned article with a sloping 
top, which, when let down, serves for the 
writing board, is an ideal form. Manufac- 
turers continue to make these desks for 
home purposes. 

The library table should be large and sim- 
ple. One that is oval in shape is the best 
for the family to gather about, and there- 
fore gives the most homelike appearance. 
The illumination of the library should cen- 
ter either upon this table, if a lamp is used, 
or above it, if gas or electric light. The 
desk should have a side-light of its own. 

Modern library conveniences are present- 
ed in so handy and presentable shapes that 
the room may be perfectly equipped as a 
literary workshop without crowding it, or 
detracting from its appearance. A diction- 
ary holder (wooden, not wire), a revolving 
bookcase for other works of reference, and 
a card index of the library may complete 
the equipment. It will be well to utilize 
one or more of the drawers of the desk as a 
file for clippings. These should be kept in 
stout manila envelopes, slightly less in size 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 81 

than the width and height of the drawer, 
and with the names of subjects contained, 
and arranged in alphabetical order. 

The carpet should be plain in design, and 
underlaid with padding. The curtains 
should be of heavier and darker stuff than 
those in the parlor, and easily adjusted to 
admit the light. 

The library and living room are generally 
next each other, and so each may and 
should have a fireplace in the common 
chimney. That of the library should be of 
severer design ; that of the living-room more 
homelike. Dutch tiles, with pictures that 
interest children, are specially appropriate 
for the latter. 

Where the father of the family demands 
a "den" for reading and smoking, this may- 
be a small room on the same general order 
as the library, but with an emphasis on com- 
fort. Thus, the sofa should be replaced by 
a wide divan, which may also serve on occa- 
sion as a sleeping-place. The Turkish style 
of furnishing is the customary one; the 
Japanese style being a fad that came in with 
the aesthetic craze, was carried to an un- 
comfortable excess, and has gone out of 
fashion. The most appropriate style for 
an American house is American Indian. 
The brilliant and strikingly designed Nav- 
ajo blankets may be used for both rugs and 
couch covers, or hung up as wall-orna- 



82 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

ments. Moqui basketware serves equally 
well for useful purposes, such as scrap-bas- 
kets, and for ornamentation. The pottery 
of the Pueblo Indians, being naive and 
primitive in design, is much more intimate 
and therefore appropriate than the Japa- 
nese bric-a-brac which it replaces. 

The living-room is the heart of the house, 
and everything in it should be of a nature 
to collect loving associations. Almost any 
style of furniture is admissible into it, if 
only it is comfortable. There should be 
rocking-chairs, for the woman and the 
neighbors who drop in to see her, other 
chairs stout enough for a man to tip back 
upon the hind legs, and little chairs, or a 
little settee by the fireplace, for the chil- 
dren. The mother's desk should stand here, 
plainer than the one in the library, but of 
design similar to it ; there should be a 
sofa as comfortable as the library one, to 
which the mother should have the first right. 
The paper should be cheerful in its tone 
and with a definite design. This will be- 
come endeared by association with home to 
the children, and the mother should be slow 
to replace it. The window draperies may 
be home-made, such as of rough-finished 
silk or embroidered canvas, and the floor cov- 
ered with a thick rag-carpet, preferably of a 
nondescript or **hit-and-miss" design. If 
the housekeeper thinks that this is "homi- 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 83 

ness" carried to excess, she may cover the 
floor with an ingrain carpet, or better, plain 
filling of a medium shade, on which a few 
rag rugs are laid, Hght in color. Very ar- 
tistic carpets and rugs are made out of old 
carpets and sold at reasonable figures, and 
there still remain in some small towns 
throughout the country weavers who weave 
into carpets the carpet-rags sewn together 
by housewives for the price of their labor 
alone. 

There is a reason additional to its econo- 
my why this practice should not die out. The 
tearing up into strips of old garments, and 
the tacking of their ends together with 
needle and thread is work eminently suited 
for children, and one in which they take 
great pride, as it gives them a share in the 
creation of a useful and beautiful house- 
hold article. 

The dining-room should be decorated in 
accordance with the quantity of daylight it 
receives. It should be, if possible, a light 
room, with preferably the morning sun. In 
this case, it is properly furnished and deco- 
rated in dark tones, on the order of the 
library; if the room is dark, the furniture, 
wood-finish, and wall-paper should be warm 
and light in feeling. The housekeeper has 
a wide variety of sets of dining table and 
chairs to choose from. Whatever she se- 
lects should be distinguished by the 



84 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

quality of dignity. Here is the one 
room in the house where formality is thor- 
oughly in place ; it is at table where bad 
manners are wont most to show themselves 
among children, and laxity in etiquette 
among their parents. Just as the exclusive 
use of the room for eating purposes saves 
labor in housework, so will its dignity in 
decoration aid in enforcing the mother's 
teaching of good habits to the children. 

Here, if anywhere in the house, plain 
wall-paper should be used, since the chief 
decorations are the china closet, cabinet and 
sideboard. 

The dining-room ought not to have a 
fire-place or stove if other means of heating 
it are available, since heat, like food, should 
be equally distributed to those at table. 
Preference in seating should be a matter 
of honor rather than of material advan- 
tage. 

Comfort and cleanliness are the qualities 
which condition the equipment and decora- 
tion of the bed-room. When one considers 
that a third of a man's life is spent in bed, 
it will be seen how exceedingly important 
is the selection of this article of furniture. 
The essential parts of a good bed are spring 
and mattress, and no expense should be 
spared here in securing the best. The 
frame, which though the ornamental part is 
the least essential, is a matter of indiffer- 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 85 

ent consideration. There is no better kind 
of a bedstead than an iron or brass one, be- 
cause of cleanHness and strength and the 
ease with which it may be taken apart and 
put together again. The pillows deserve 
almost equal consideration with the mat- 
tress. Since the feathers used in stuffing 
pillows may be cleaned, it is economical to 
see that these are of the best quality. Bed 
clothing is often selected under the mistaken 
impression that weight is synonymous with 
warmth, and heavy quilted comforts are 
chosen instead of lighter, woolen blankets. 
The pure woolen blanket is the ideal bed- 
covering and in various degrees of thickness 
may serve for all of the bed clothes save the 
sheets, and the light white coverlet, which 
is placed over all merely for appearance. 

With increasing attention paid to hygi- 
ene, single beds rather than double are 
coming into favor. Even Vv^iere two people 
occupy the same room they will be more 
comfortable in different beds. It is a mis- 
take for young people and infants to sleep 
with older people, or for those who are well 
and strong with sickly or delicate persons, 
as there is apt to be a loss of vitality to the 
more vigorous party. 

Everything connected with the bed should 
be regularly and thoroughly sunned and 
aired. The occupant on rising should throw 
back the bed-clothes over the foot of the 



86 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

bed, or, indeed, take them off and hang them 
over a chair in the sunhght. 

The first thing in making a bed should 
be to turn the mattress. The lower sheet 
is then put on right side up and with the 
large end at the top. This is tucked in care- 
fully all around, then the covering sheet is 
put on with the large end at the top, but 
the right side under. This is tucked in only 
at the foot in order to permit the bed to be 
easily entered. Over these the blankets are 
placed and folded back at the head under 
the fold of the upper sheet. Pillow-shams 
should never be used, as ornamentation on 
a bed is not necessary, and if it were a sham 
is never an ornament. 

The walls of bedrooms may very properly 
be painted, as also the floors, to permit 
scrubbing, especially after the illness of an 
occupant. If papered, a chintz pattern is 
preferable ; cretonne of similar design 
should then be used for furniture slips, etc. 
The woodwork may be white, with the 
chairs to match. There should be washable 
cotton rag-rugs, loosely woven to be grate- 
ful to the bare feet, at the bedside and in 
front of the bureau, dressing-table and 
doorway. Where space is limited, a com- 
bined bureau and dressing-table, or even a 
chiffonier with a mirror, may be used. 

A child's bedroom may very appro- 
priately have a wall-paper of a design in- 



FURNITURE AND DECORATION 87 

tended to interest it, such as representations 
of animals, scenes from Mother Goose, etc. 
This is also suitable for the nursery. 

The guest-room has come to be the 
chamhre de luxe of the house, the place in 
which every conceivable article is intro- 
duced that might be required by the visitor, 
all being of expensive quality. Probably it 
is best to conform to this practice, since it 
is an expected thing, but money spent on 
the guest-room beyond that necessary to 
make it simply the best bedroom in the 
house, brings smaller returns in usage than 
anywhere else. The average guest is more 
pleased with a room such as he sleeps in 
himself at home, than with one where ele- 
gance seems too fine for use. It was a 
plainsman, who, being lodged in such a 
room on a visit to civilization, slept on the 
floor rather than touch the immaculate pil- 
low-shams and bed-cover, which he con- 
ceived to be parts of the bed clothing not 
designed for use. 

The window-shades of a house, since 
they show without, should be uniform in 
color, and no attempt be made to suit the 
individual decoration of a room to them. 
The material should be plain Holland, white 
or buff when there are outside blinds, oth- 
erwise green or blue. In recent years shut- 
ters, or outside blinds, have come somewhat 
into disuse. This is, on the whole, perhaps 



88 FURNITURE AND DECORATION 

an improvement, for they are rarely manip- 
ulated with judgment, being either left open 
or kept shut for continuous periods. In 
the latter case they darken rooms which, 
though unused, would have been better for 
the admission of sunlight. The reason for 
this lack of manipulation is that they are 
opened and fastened with difficulty from 
the inside. All the purpose of the outside 
blinds is served by inside blinds, which are 
much more easily operated, and lend them- 
selves admirably to decoration. One form 
of these, known as Venetian blinds, con- 
sisting of parallel wooden slats, strung on 
tapes, is coming again into vogue. They 
are cheaper than the usual sort of blinds, 
and are very durable as well as artistic. 
After all, however, shades are the most 
practical form of modulating the entrance 
of light into a house. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE MOTHER 

Nursing the Child — The Mother's Diet — 
Weaning — The Nursing-bottle — Milk 
for the Baby — Graduated Approach to 
Solid Diet— The Baby's Table Man- 
ners — His Bath — Cleansing His Eyes 
and Nose — Relief of Colic — Care of the 
Diaper. 

But one upon earth is more beautiful and bet- 
ter than the wife — that is the mother. 

L. SCHEFER, 

Tennyson says, "The bearing and the 
training of a child is woman's wisdom." 
Herein nature is ever urging her to the 
proper course. Thus the love of the new- 
born infant prompts the mother to feed 
him with her own milk, and this supplies 
exactly the elements he requires for healthy 
development. No other milk, however 
skillfully modulated, no ''infant's food," 
however scientifically prepared, can fully 
take its place. 

89 



90 THE MOTHER 

Unless illness prevents her from feeding 
her own child, or she is of a moody and un- 
happy disposition, it is the mother's place 
to give her breast to the infant. The con- 
dition of mind of the mother has a great 
deal to do with the quality of the milk. 
A despondent and excitable temperament is 
often more productive of harm than a low 
physical condition. It is hardly necessary 
to warn the mother to be careful of her 
diet, as this has immediate effect on the 
quality of the milk. Of course, any drink 
containing alcohol must be avoided. Tea 
and coffee, except when taken in weak 
strength, have also a deleterious effect. 
Milk, and next to it, cocoa, are the best 
beverages for the mother. Mothers should 
also avoid taking medicine except when 
positively required. 

There is no need for the mother to vary 
greatly her solid diet. She will naturally 
select that which is most nutritious and eas- 
ily digested. Anything that tends to make 
her costive, such as fruits or green vege- 
tables, should be partaken of with discrimi- 
nation. 

The baby should be fed with systematic 
regularity from the beginning. While a 
child does not need food for the first day 
after birth, nevertheless it is well to put it 
to the breast about six hours after birth, 
since for the first few^ days after child-birth 



THE MOTHER 91 

the breasts secrete a laxative element which 
acts as a sort of physic upon the child, 
clearing its bowels of a black, tarry sub- 
stance, that fills them. The full supply of 
normal milk comes after the third day. 
After the first feeding the baby should be 
put to the breast every four hours for the 
first day and after that every two hours, 
being kept there about twenty minutes each 
time. The mother should be watchful and 
see that the child is awake and is nursing. 
Even at this early age it can be compelled 
to learn a good habit. Unless it learns this 
habit, the mother will be put to great in- 
convenience and the baby will suffer be- 
cause of the disarrangement of the sys- 
tematic feeding. If he is allowed to nurse 
at his own pleasure, the results will quickly 
make themselves manifest in the form of 
colic, leading to wakefulness and bad tem- 
per. 

A baby should not remain awake more 
than four hours in the day on the whole, 
and he should be so trained that the eight 
hours from ten o'clock at night to six in 
the morning, when his mother is sleeping, 
should be for him also an uninterrupted 
period of slumber. 

The baby should be weaned at ten months 
unless he is unwell at the time or the wean- 
ing comes in the heat of the summer, when 
there is danger of his becoming sickly or 



92 THE MOTHER 

peevish. Preparatory to weaning, the baby 
should be accustomed to the bottle. Pro- 
vided the bottle holds half a pint or four 
glasses, the number of bottles may be in- 
creased from one a day at four months to 
two or six at eight months. The baby 
should certainly be weaned by the time it 
is a year old, as, even though the mother 
continues to have a plentiful supply of milk, 
this is not suited to his needs at this stage 
of his physical development. By this meth- 
od of approach the act of permanently re- 
fusing the breast to the child will not 
greatly offend him. After a little crying he 
will philosophically accept the situation and 
reconcile himself to the substitute. 

Weaning is rendered easier by selecting 
a nursing-bottle wdiich has the nipple in 
the shape of the breast. Care should be 
taken that the hole in the nipple is not too 
large, supplying more milk than the stom- 
ach can take care of as it comes, and so 
causing stomachic disorder. The nursing 
bottle should at all times be kept thoroughly 
clean by rinsing in hot water and washing 
in hot soapsuds. The milk for the child's 
bottle should, wherever possible, be what is 
called "certified," that is, the milk from a 
herd of cows which have been declared by 
the proper authorities to be all in good 
health, and which have been milked under 
sanitary conditions. This milk is delivered 



THE MOTHER 93 

in clean, sealed bottles, preventing the ad- 
mission of any dirt or deleterious substance 
from the time it leaves the dairy till opened. 
The milk for the baby should not be pur- 
chased from the can. 

Milk that has been sterilized, that is, bot- 
tled and put in boiling water for an hour, 
is not so good for the baby as pasteurized 
milk; that is, milk kept at something less 
than the boiling point for half an hour, 
since the higher temperature causes the milk 
to lose some of the qualities beneficial to 
the child. 

Since cow's milk differs in its constitu- 
ents from mother's, having more fat and 
less sugar, there will be need at first to 
modify the cow's milk, weakening and 
sweetening it somewhat. One good recipe 
for modifying cows' milk is : One part 
milk, two parts cream, two parts lime-water, 
three parts sugar water, the sugar water be- 
ing made by putting two even teaspoonfuls 
of sugar of milk in a pint of water. 

Condensed milk, which is often used as 
a substitute for cows' milk, is not nearly 
so good, since it has lost in the process of 
condensation one of the most important 
elements, that which forms bone tissue. 
Accordingly, babies fed upon condensed 
milk are apt to be "rickety," and they lack 
in general power to resist disease, which 
is primarily the mark of a baby fed on 



94 THE MOTHER 

mother's milk, and to a slightly lesser de- 
gree, one fed upon cows' milk. 

The stomach grows very rapidly during 
infancy, increasing from a capacity of one 
ounce soon after birth to eight ounces at 
the end of the year, and this should be 
taken into account by the increase of the 
amount supplied it. After the first week, 
a baby should increase in weight at the 
rate of one pound a month for the first six 
months. If he falls behind this rate and 
remains healthy, more sugar and fat may 
be introduced into his milk. If, however, 
he fails to gain weight and is sickly, the 
milk should be diluted and modified so as 
to make it easier of digestion. 

Every mother should be warned against 
a common practice of starting the flow of 
milk from the nipple of the bottle by put- 
ting it in her mouth. Gums and teeth are 
rarely perfectly clean, and so form the 
favorite lurking place for disease germs, 
which, though they may not produce dis- 
ease in the stronger body of the adult, may 
do so and often do so in the more suscepti- 
ble physique of the child. 

Just as the child was trained to the bot- 
tle while it was still taking the mother's 
milk, so it should be taught gradually to 
eat solids while it is fed upon the bottle. 
After the child has been weaned at the 
tenth month, he can be fed occasionally on 



THE MOTHER 95 

broths or beef juice as a substitute for one 
of the milk feedings. The broth is more 
of a stimulant than a food, aiding digestion 
rather than supplying nourishment. 

During the eleventh month, the yolk of a 
soft boiled egg, mixed with stale bread 
crumbs, may be added to the diet, together 
with a little orange juice or prune jelly. 
The latter will tend to keep his bowels 
free. 

After twelve months, the child may be 
gradually accustomed to eat stale bread, 
biscuit or toast, broken in milk, thoroughly 
cooked oatmeal and similar cereals, baked 
potatoes moistened with broth, mashed po- 
tatoes moistened with gravy, and rice pud- 
ding. The pudding is made of two table- 
spoonfuls of clean rice, half a teaspoonful 
of salt, one-third of a cupful of sugar in 
five cups of milk. Bake in buttered pud- 
ding dish from two to three hours in slow 
oven, stirring frequently to prevent rice 
from settling. 

At the age of two years and a half the 
child may be permitted to eat meat, pref- 
erably roast beef or mutton, cooked rare, 
or minced roast poultry. 

Even though sugar is a very essential 
ingredient in the child's diet, it is very un- 
wise to let it have this outside of its regu- 
lar diet. Pure candy does not hurt the 
child by impairing its digestion so much as 



96 THE MOTHER 

by interfering with its appetite for plain 
food. The child should never be allowed 
to form an inordinate appetite for any- 
thing, as this is certain to cause a corre- 
sponding deficiency elsewhere in his diet. 

Even worse than the practice of giving 
candy to very young children is that of 
teaching them to drink tea and coffee. 
These are pure stimulants, supplying no 
tissue-building element, and taking the 
place of nutritious beverages that do, such 
as milk and cocoa. 

After a child is old enough to be per- 
mitted to partake with discrimination of the 
general food of the table, he should be 
allowed to eat with the family. From the 
beginning he should be taught table man- 
ners, the use of knife and fork and napkin, 
and the subordination of his wishes to 
those of older people. 

Next to feeding the baby properly, the 
most important duty of the mother is to 
see that it is kept clean. Even in its nurs- 
ing days, after each feeding, she should 
rinse its mouth out by a weak boracic acid 
solution, since particles of milk may re- 
main there which may become a source of 
infection. It is well for similar reason to 
wash her own breasts with the solution. 

A baby should be bathed regularly at 
about the same time each day. During the 
first days of a child's life, he should be 



THE MOTHER 97 

Sponged in a warm room, with water at 
blood heat. In removing the garments, 
the mother should roll the infant gently 
from side to side, rather than lift him bod- 
ily. It is well to have a flannel cloth or 
apron ready to cover the child when it is 
being undressed. The baby's face should 
be washed in clear water, firmly and thor- 
oughly with a damp cloth, and dried by 
patting with the towel. Then soap should 
be added to the water and the other parts 
of the baby's body washed in it; first, 
the head, ears and neck, then the arms, 
one uncovered at a time, then, with the 
mother's hand reaching under the cover, 
the back, during which process the baby 
is laid flat on the stomach, then the stom- 
ach, and last, the legs, one at a time, the 
baby being kept covered by the flannel as 
much as these operations permit. 

The eyes of infants are prone to inflam- 
mation, and therefore require special at- 
tention in the way of cleansing. This can 
be done best by the use of the boracic so- 
lution upon a fresh pledget of cotton. Be 
careful not to use the same piece of cotton 
for both eyes, and to burn it after use. 
When the nose is stopped with mucous, a 
similar means can be used for cleansing it. 

Every mother should study the individ- 
ual nature and disposition of her child, in 
order to know what to do for it when it 



98 THE MOTHER 

cries, for a cry may mean over-feeding as 
well as under-feeding, colic, or a wet dia- 
per. Colic is often quickly relieved by 
turning the baby upon his stomach and 
rubbing his back, or by holding him in 
front of the fire, or wrapping him in a 
heated blanket. In drying the baby his 
comfort will be greatly increased by the 
use of talcum powder. Of course, soiled 
diapers should not be put on a child again 
until they are thoroughly washed. It will 
save the mother much trouble if absorbent 
cotton is placed within the diapers to re- 
ceive the discharges from the bowels. 
These should be afterwards burned. 

Too many clothes is bad for a young 
baby. If his stomach be well protected 
by a flannel band and he is kept from 
draughts, his other clothing may be very 
light, especially in summer. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE MOTHER 



The School-child — Breakfast — Luncheon — 
Supper — Aiding the Teacher at Home 
— Manual Training — Utilizing the Col- 
lecting Mania — Physical Exercise — 
Intellectual Exercise — Forming the 
Bath Habit — Teething — Forming the 
Toothbrush Habit — Shoes for Children 
— Dress — Hats. 

When the child reaches the school-age 
especial care should be taken of his diet. 
He should not be allowed to have meat at 
breakfast, except a little bacon with his 
eggs, one of which may be allowed a 
school-child when young, two when older. 
Well-cooked cereals, such as oatmeal and 
cream of wheat, should form the staple 
article of diet, though these may be varied 
by the ready-to-eat breakfast foods, such 
as corn-flakes. He should always have 
either sound fresh fruit, or stewed fruit, to 
eat with the cereal. His bread should al- 
v/ays be toasted. INIuffins are better for 

^9 



100 THE MOTHER 

him than pancakes or waffles, which, how- 
ever, should be allowed him occasionally 
as a treat. 

As this kind of a breakfast largely con- 
sists of starchy foods, it should be eaten 
slowly, as starch requires thorough masti- 
cation. The practice of allowing children 
to lie late in bed, and then gulp their 
breakfast down in a minute or so, in order 
not to be late to school, is most pernicious. 

The luncheon put up for school-children 
may consist chiefly of sandwiches, prefer- 
ably several small ones of different kinds, 
rather than one or two large ones. Bis- 
cuit sandwiches are generally more palata- 
ble to a child than plain bread ones. Be- 
sides those made of cold meat, there should 
be at least one cheese or one salad-and- 
nut sandwich, and one jelly sandwich. A 
hard-boiled tgg, preferably one that has 
been cooked for some time in water kept 
under boiling point, will vary this diet. Of 
course fruit, such as an apple, an orange, 
or a banana, forms the best dessert. Oc- 
casionally cake, gingerbread, sweet biscuit, 
or a piece of milk chocolate may be put in 
the basket for a pleasant surprise. 

The supper of the school-child while 
young should be a simple one, something 
on the order of the breakfast. In the 
early days children were fed at night on 
hasty pudding, or mush-and-milk, (corn- 



THE MOTHER 101 

meal), which is an ideal food when thor- 
oughly prepared, the meal being slowly 
sprinkled into the pot, which was stirred 
constantly all the while. The North Ital- 
ians prepare cornmeal in this fashion ; the 
mush, which they call ^'polenta," forms an 
accompaniment of meat stews, thus af- 
fording all the elements of a "perfect ra- 
tion." American cooks should employ 
cornmeal far more than they do. Mush 
in particular has the advantage possessed 
by King Arthur's bag-pudding, what can- 
not be eaten at night may be served "next 
morning fried." While fried food is, as 
a rule, not good at breakfast for any save 
one who has hard manual labor or physi- 
cal exercise to perform, an exception may 
be made of fried mush and fried eggs, be- 
cause their base is so nutritious that the 
heated fat can do little to impair their di- 
gestibility, while it certainly whets the ap- 
petite before eating, and pleases the palate 
when the food is in the mouth. It should 
be borne in mind that those foods which 
require much mastication ought especially 
to be made palatable in order to be chewed 
thoroughly. Therefore, starchy materials 
ought to be prepared in appetizing ways ; 
on the other hand, meats, which require 
less mastication, may dispense with high 
seasoning and rich sauces, especially as they 
have their own natural flavors. 



102 THE MOTHER 

The mother should closely follow the 
work of the child at school and aid this 
in every way at home. She should pa- 
tiently answer his many questions, except 
when she is convinced that he is not really 
in search of information, but is asking 
them merely for the sake of asking. 
Wherever the child ought to be able to 
reason out the answer, the mother should 
assist him to do so by asking him guid- 
ing questions in turn. This is the method 
that Socrates, the greatest of teachers and 
philosophers, employed with his pupils, and, 
indeed, with his own children. It is as 
useful in inculcating moral lessons as in 
teaching facts. When one of the sons of 
Socrates, Lamprocles, came to him com- 
plaining that the mother, Xanthippe, treat- 
ed him so hardly that he could not bear it, 
the philosopher, by kindly questions, led 
the boy to acknowledge his great debt to 
her for her care of him in infancy and in 
sickness, and, by showing the many things 
Xanthippe had to try her patience, per- 
suaded him to bear with her and to give 
her that love which was her due. 

Where manual training is taught in the 
schools, the mother should give every op- 
portunity to her children to practice it at 
home. Where it is not a part of the school 
course, parents should study to devise home 
substitutes for it, the mother teaching the 



THE MOTHER 103 

girls sewing, embroidery, etc., and the fa- 
ther instructing the boys in carpentry and 
the like. 

The desire to collect things, which seizes 
boys and girls at an early age, should be 
turned into useful channels by teachers 
and parents. Often this valuable instinct 
is largely wasted, as in the collecting of 
postage-stamps, the impulse which it gives 
to geographical and historical investigation 
being grossly perverted — for example a lit- 
tle island, that once issued a stamp which 
is now rare, looming larger in importance 
than a great country none of the stamps 
of which have any special value. 

Every school, or, failing this, every 
home, should have a museum, not so much 
of curiosities as of typical specimens. 
These may be geological, botannical, fau- 
nal or archaeological ; the rocks and soils 
and clays of the home country, the flowers 
of plants and sections of wood of trees ; 
the skins of animals and birds (taxidermy 
is a fascinating employment for the 
young) eggs and nests (here the child 
should be taught to be a naturalist and 
not a vandal), and Indian arrow-heads and 
stone-axes. 

In this connection it should be suggested 
that the most valuable collection of all is a 
herbarium of the flowers of literature, spec- 
imens of which may be found in the home 



104 THE MOTHER 

library. That a child is not fond of read- 
ing is testimony that his parents no less 
than his teachers have failed in their duty. 

Above all, the parents should see that 
their boys and girls have facilities for that 
physical culture which is necessary for 
health and proper development. Those ex- 
ercises which are both recreative and use- 
ful are preferable. Gardening may be 
made a delight instead of a hardship, if 
the child is allowed to enjoy the fruits of 
his labor. Let him sell the vegetables he 
raises to the family, and, if there is an 
excess, to the neighbors, for pocket money. 
He will enjoy purchasing his own cloth- 
ing even more than using the money solely 
for his pleasures. 

Healthful sports should be encour- 
aged, and games, such as chess, that de- 
velops the intellect. There are many card 
games, such as "Authors," that impart use- 
ful instruction in literature, history, natu- 
ral science, business, etc. Playing these in 
the home is a good thing no less for parent 
than child. Many a mother has acquired 
a well-rounded culture after her marriage 
through her determination to "keep ahead 
of the children" in their studies and intel- 
lectual activities. 

The child should be early accustomed to 
take cold baths, and then run about naked 
in a room under the impulse given by the 



THE MOTHER 105 

tingling glow of reaction. If a play is 
made of the bath the habit will be formed 
for life, and in this way, one of the moth- 
er's chief struggles, to make the children 
clean themselves, will be abolished. It is 
natural for a child to get dirty, and there- 
fore it should be made as habitual an im- 
pulse for them to get clean again. 

Of all such habits, keeping the teeth 
clean is most important. Children's teeth 
are a chief source of anxiety to the mother 
even before they make their appearance. 

Troubles in teething are generally due 
to innutritions and illy-digested food. 
Sometimes, however, when the food is all 
right, the teeth will still have difficulty in 
coming through the gums. Whenever the 
mother observes that her crying child re- 
fuses to bring its gums together on any- 
thing, she should examine them, and, if 
they are swollen, have them lanced. 

The **milk-teeth," even though they are 
temporary, should be looked after carefully, 
as their decay will often spread to the com- 
ing permanent teeth. Besides, they should 
be preserved as long as possible, and in 
the best condition, to aid in mastication. 
Accordingly, young children should be 
taught regularly to rinse out their mouths 
and to use a tooth-brush and tooth-powder. 

A child should run barefoot as much as 
conditions and climate permit. When it 



106 THE MOTHER 

wears shoes, these should conform as much 
as possible to the shape of the foot. With 
such footwear, the active child may fomi 
for life the habit of a natural gait, espe- 
cially if parents will point out the beauty 
and advantages of this, and praise the men 
and women of their acquaintance who pos- 
sess it. It is about the time when a girl is 
learning Virgil in the High School that she 
is tempted by vanity and the desire to be 
'''like the other girls" to put on French 
heels. Then it is that the teacher or moth- 
er should quote to her the line of the 
^neid about Venus : 

"The true goddess is shown by her gait," 

and save her from an irreparable folly. 

If mothers will remember that children 
are not dolls, and that mothers are not 
children to take pleasure in bedecking 
them, they will need no advice about dress- 
ing their little ones. There is only one 
rule for her to follow : She should consult 
the comfort and health of the child, and, as 
far as consistent with these, the conven- 
ience to herself. It may be ''cute" to dress 
a child like a miniature man or woman, but 
it is cruel to the child. There is no reason 
for distinguishing sex by dress in young 
children. "Jumpers" form the best dress 
for either a little boy or little girl in which 
to play. Even when they are older and a 



THE MOTHER 107 

skirt distinguishes the girl, bloomers or 
knickerbockers of the same material be- 
neath, approach the ideal of dress for com- 
fort, health and decency more nearly than 
white petticoat and drawers. Indeed, the 
skirt is best when it is a part of a blouse, 
which is also a suitable dress for a boy. 
A child should never be tortured with a 
large or stiff hat. The heads of children 
come up to the middles of men and women, 
and such a hat will be crushed in a crowd, 
and its poor little wearer placed in mortal 
terror. Indeed, children should be allowed 
to go bareheaded as much as possible, and, 
when they wear hats, have these simple in 
shape and soft in material. The plain cap 
is the best head covering for a boy. The 
girl's may be a little more ornamental, es- 
pecially in color. The universal seizure 
by the sex upon the boy's "Tarn o'Shanter" 
as peculiarly suited for a play and school- 
hat, is therefore right and proper. For 
a more showy style, lingerie hats are justi- 
fied. But the most beautiful and appro- 
priate form of the "best hat" for a little 
girl is one of uniform material, straw, 
cloth or felt, with simple crown, and wide, 
and more or less soft brim, ornamented by 
a ribbon alone. The addition of a single 
flower may be permitted, though this is 
like the admission of the camel's nose into 
the tent, — it may lead to the entrance of 



108 THE MOTHER 

the hump — the monstrosity of the modern 
woman's bonnet, which of late years has by 
terms imitated a flower garden, a vege- 
table garden, an orchard, and, finally, with 
the Chanticler fad, a poultry-yard. 

The knickerbocker and the short skirt 
are aesthetic, that is eye-pleasing, because 
they mark a natural division of the body at 
the knee. There is an artistic justification, 
therefore, in mothers keeping their sons out 
of "long pants" as long as possible, and 
in fathers (for it is they who are the chief 
objectors) in opposing their daughters' de- 
sire to don the dust-sweeping skirt that 
marks attainment to womanhood. Here, 
however, it is proper that the wishes of 
the younger generation triumph. It is a so- 
cial instinct to conform to the custom of 
one's fellows, and the children have reached 
"the age of consent" in matters of fash- 
ion. Their fathers and mothers may lend 
their influence to abolish foolish customs, 
or to modify them in the direction of wis- 
dom, but it is best that this be in their ca- 
pacity as citizens, and not as parents. 



CHAPTER X 

CARE OF THE PERSON 

The Mother's Duty Toward Herself— Her 
Dress — Etiquette and Good Manners — 
The Golden Rule — Pride in Personal 
Appearance — The Science of Beauty 
Culture — Manicuring as a Home Em- 
ployment — Recipes for Toilet Prepar- 
ations — Nail-biting — Fragile Nails — 
White Spots — Chapped Hands — Care 
of the Skin — Facial Massage — Recipes 
for Skin Lotions — Treatment of Fa- 
cial Blemishes and Disorders — Care of 
the Hair — Diseases of the Scalp and 
Hair — Gray Hair — Care of Eyebrows 
and Eyelashes. 

Certainly this is a duty, not a sin. "Cleanli- 
ness is indeed next to godliness." 

John Wesley — On Dress. 

In all her multitudinous concerns the 
housekeeper should not forget her duties 
toward herself. Many a mother in looking 
out that her children are a credit to the 

109 



110 CARE OF THE PERSON 

family in dress and manners and care of 
their persons, gives up all thoug-ht of stand- 
ing as an exemplar of these things among 
the ladies of the community. This is a 
sacrifice of self that is not commendable, 
since it defeats its purpose. The mother 
should always be herself an illustration of 
the lessons she teaches, else they will not 
be seriously considered. 

It is impossible here to give more than 
a few general suggestions as to the dress 
and millinery of the mother. She should 
have a variety of simple house-dresses, 
suited to her various duties, and these 
should be kept as neat as possible. Each 
should be made for its purpose, not con- 
verted to it from one of her fine dresses. 
Nothing gives an impression of slattern- 
liness more than the wearing about the 
house of a frayed and soiled garment "that 
has seen better days." 

The best dresses and hats of a woman, 
even one who goes little "into society," 
should also be sufficient in number and 
varied in style to suit the changing seasons 
of the year, and the widely differing occa- 
sions for use which occur in every station 
of life. The purchase of several good ar- 
ticles of attire rather than one or two is 
economical in the end. There is not only 
the obvious mathematical reason that, if 
one dress wears a year, four dresses must 



CARE OF THE PERSON m 

be bought in four years, whether tliis is 
done simuhaneously or successively, but 
there is the physical reason that a dress, 
like a person, that has regular periods of 
rest, becomes restored in quality. Ac- 
cordingly, all dresses should be laid very 
carefully away when not in use, and the 
proper means taken to refresh them. 

Unfortunately the arbitrary and senseless 
changes in fashion render this practice hard 
to follow. No woman likes to look out of 
style. However, by a little cleverness gar- 
ments and hats may be adapted to the pre- 
vailing mode (although the arbiters of 
fashion, in the interests of manufacturers, 
try by violent changes of style to render 
this impracticable). These adat/tations 
may not be in the height of fashion, but 
they will be in good form and taste. In- 
deed, it is never good taste to folow ex- 
tremes of style. The well-knowr^ lines of 
Pope on the subject hold true in e'ery age: 

" . . . .in fashions the rule wi^ hold. 
Alike fantastic if too new or/)ld ; 

Be not the first by whom the nev are tried. 
Nor yet the last to lay the yd aside." 

Some of the best-dressed >^men in ar- 
tistic and musical circles Resign their 
clothes wholly to suit theii^personal ap- 
pearance, with such succes^hat their in- 



112 CARE OF THE PERSON 

dependence of the prevailing mode of 
larg'e or small hats or sleeves, striped or 
checked fabrics, etc., wins universal admira- 
tion. 

Remember that a dress or a hat is never 
a "creation" in itself. The wearer must 
always be considered. Short, stout women 
should avoid horizontal stripes or lines of 
ornamentation that call attention to breadth, 
and should choose those perpendicular 
stripes and lines which tend to give an im- 
pression of height and slenderness. A hat 
lining may be used to put rosiness into a 
pale face, and a color may be selected for 
a dress which will neutralize too much red- 
ness in the skin. But these are matters of 
commcn knowledge to all women. The 
trouble is, that in their desire to be "in 
style," many women forget, or even de- 
liberatey ignore these fundamental princi- 
ples of irt in dress. Fondness for a par- 
ticular -olor, as a color, causes many 
women b wear it, regardless of its rela- 
tion to t-eir complexion ; and there have 
been worr?n of mystical mind who, believ- 
ing that ei:h quality of soul had its corre- 
spondent i a particular hue, wore those 
colors whio they thought were significant 
of their cl>f traits of character — with 
weird result as you may imagine. 

It is unne-ssary, in this book of "prac- 
tical suggestns," to discuss in detail the 



CARE OF THE PERSON 113 

question of etiquette, which may be defined 
as "the prevaiHng fashion in social inter- 
course." Styles in visiting cards change 
from year to year, and the social usages of 
one city differ from another. If it is re- 
quired to know these, the latest special 
work on etiquette should be procured. 

The general principles of good manners, 
however, which lie at the basis of eti- 
quette, just as good morals form the foun- 
dation of law, although there are discrep- 
ancies in both cases, may appropriately be 
presented here, though briefly. 

Good manners and good morals alike 
follow the Golden Rule : ''Whatsoever ye 
would that others should do to you, do ye 
even so to them." Egotism and selfishness 
are the bane of both. True politeness con- 
sists in considering the pleasure of others 
as a thing in itself, without regard to your 
own advantage. If an attention is paid, a 
gift given, a service rendered, these should 
be done solely for the recipient's happi- 
ness, not with a view to his making a re- 
turn in kind, possibly with interest. It is 
good manners to call on people who will be 
pleased to see you ; not on those whom 
you wish to see, but to whom you and your 
affairs are of no concern. A first visit to 
a newcomer in town is right and proper. 
A stranger is presumed to be desirous of 
making friends, but the first call ought to 



114 CARE OF THE PERSON 

indicate whether or not he and you have 
that community of interest which is essen- 
tial to friendship. If you are the new- 
comer, it is your duty to show your appre- 
ciation of the attention by returning first 
calls, but you should so act that your hosts 
will feel free to continue the acquaintance 
if it will be agreeable to them, or discon- 
tinue it if it is not. Indeed, in every situa- 
tion you should give the other party this 
choice. Friendship is one of the most valu- 
able forms of social energy, and it should 
carefully be conserved. Yet more than any 
other form it is wasted, because of a false 
regard for social conventions. At how 
many calls are both parties bored ! How 
many persons — women in particular, who 
have not the man's freedom in selecting 
associates — continue in the treadmill round 
of an uncongenial social circle ! To escape 
from this may require the special exercise 
of will, and the incurring of criticism, but 
these ought to be assumed. However, in 
most cases, a woman may gradually escape 
from the distasteful circle and form new 
and more congenial friends without re- 
mark. 

After the brightening effects on mind 
and spirits of social intercourse comes the 
advantage of toning up the personal ap- 
pearance. A decent self-respect in dress 
should always be flavored with a touch of 



CARE OF THE PERSON 115 

pride, for this is an excellent preservative. 
To have a proper pride, there must be the 
incentive of the presence of other people 
whose admiration we may win. Pride in 
dress is naturally conjoined with the care 
of the person. There is an excellent term 
for this, which, though borrowed from the 
stable, carries with it only sweet and whole- 
some suggestions. It is 'Veil-groomed." A 
well-groomed woman is not only a well- 
gowned woman, but one who, like a favor- 
ite mare, is always spick and span in her 
person, and happy in her quiet conscious- 
ness of it. And every woman, whether 
she possesses a maid or not, indeed, wheth- 
er she has fine gowns or not, may win the 
admiration of all her associates by her 
"grooming." 



CHAPTER XI 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

The Prevalence of Good Recipes for All 
Save Meat Dishes — Increased Cost of 
Meat Makes These Desirable — No 
Need to Save Expense by Giving Up 
Meat — The ''Government Cook Book" 
— Value of Meat as Food — Relative 
Values and Prices of the Cuts of Meat 

We may live without poetry, music and art ; 

We may live without conscience, and live with- 
out heart ; 

We may live without friends ; we may live with- 
out books ; 

But civilized man cannot live without cooks. 
("Owen IVIeredith") — Lucile. 

All the other duties of the housewife 
are subsidiary to the great subject of pre- 
paring food for the household. The care 
of the home, the care of health, etc., all 
either bear upon this work or require abil- 
ity to perform it. 

With decks cleared for action, therefore, 
we will proceed to discuss the fundamen- 

116 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 117 

tal principles of cookery, the application of 
which, in the form of specific recipes, will 
follow in a separate chapter. 

In the limited space which can be here 
devoted to the subject, it will be assumed 
that the housewife is a cook, and can fol- 
low plain directions, and that she is famil- 
iar with the methods of preparing the or- 
dinary meals that are universal throughout 
the country. It will be also taken for 
granted that she has one or more general 
cook books containing a wide variety of 
recipes for the making of bread in its 
various forms, cakes, pies, omelettes, sal- 
ads, desserts, etc., and the discussion will 
be confined to meats, wherein, owing to 
advancing prices, new economical methods 
of preparation are coming into practice, 
based upon a scientific knowledge of food 
values. 

Vegetarianism and fruitarianism are be- 
ing adopted by many households, less as a 
matter of principle than as a recourse from 
what are considered the present prohibitive 
prices of meats. Now the proper way to 
solve a problem is not to evade it, but to 
face it and conquer it, and this is eminently 
true of the meat problem. Granted that 
the proportion of family income devoted 
to food cannot be increased, it is a fact 
that, by an intelligent study of the food 
value of the different kinds of meat, and 



118 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

of economic ways of preparing them, the 
expense of living may be maintained at 
the former rate, if not, indeed, materially 
lessened, with a great increase in both 
the nutritive value and the palatability of 
the family meals. 

The ''new nationalism" of America, 
which, after all, is only the turning to 
newer needs of the old nationalism that 
gave homesteads to the people and supplied 
them with improved methods of agricul- 
ture, is rightly taking the lead in the scien- 
tific education of the housekeeper in this 
household economy. 

With special regard to the requirements 
of the people in these days of rising prices, 
especially of meats, the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture has issued a book- 
let, prepared by C. F. Langworthy, Ph. D., 
and Caroline L. Hunt, A. B., experts in 
nutrition connected with the Department, 
which gives authoritative information about 
the cheaper cuts of meat and the prepara- 
tion of inexpensive meat dishes. This has 
become generally known as "The Govern- 
ment Cook Book." By the permission of 
the Department we here present portions 
of the informiation it contains, together 
with those recipes which best illustrate the 
principles of meat cookery for the home 
table. 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 119 

Value of Meat as Food 

Considering the fact that meat forms 
such an important part of the diet, and 
the further fact that the price of meat, as 
of other foods, has advanced in recent 
years, it is natural for housekeepers to seek 
more economical methods of preparing 
meat for the table, and to turn their 
thoughts toward the less expensive cuts 
and ask what economy is involved in their 
use, how they may be prepared, and 
whether the less expensive dishes are as 
nutritious and as thoroughly and easily di- 
gested as the costlier ones. 

The value of meat as food depends 
chiefly on the presence of two classes of 
nutrients, (i) protein or nitrogenous com- 
pounds, and (2) fat. The mineral matter 
it contains, particularly the phosphorus 
compounds, is also of much importance, 
though it is small in quantity. Protein is 
essential for the construction and mainte- 
nance of the body, and both protein and fat 
yield energy for muscular power and for 
keeping up the temperature of the body. 
Fat is especially important as a source of 
energy. It is possible to combine the fat 
and protein of animal foods so as to meet 
the requirements of the body with such 



120 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

materials only, and this is done in the Arc- 
tic regions, where vegetable food is lack- 
ing; but in general it is considered that 
diet is better and more wholesome when, 
in addition to animal foods, such as meat, 
which is rich in proteins and fats, it con- 
tains vegetable foods, which are richest in 
sugar, starch, and other carbohydrates. 
Both animal and vegetable foods supply 
the mineral substances which are essential 
to body growth and development. 

The difference between the various cuts 
of meat consists chiefly in amount of fat 
and consequently in the fuel value to the 
body. So far as the proteins are con- 
cerned, i. e., the substances which build 
and repair the important tissues of the body, 
very little difference is found. 

This general uniformity in proportion of 
protein makes it easy for the housekeeper 
who does not wish to enter into the com- 
plexities of food values to make sure that 
her family is getting enough of this nu- 
trient. From the investigations carried on 
in the Office of Experiment Stations the 
conclusion has been drawn that of the total 
amount of protein needed every day, which 
is usually estimated to be lOO grams or 3I/2 
ounces, one-half or 50 grams is taken in 
the form of animal food, which of course 
includes milk, eggs, poultry, fish, etc., as 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 131 

well as meat. The remainder is taken in 
the form of bread and other cereal foods 
and beans and other vegetables. The por- 
tion of cooked meat which may be referred 
to as an ordinary ''helping-/' 3 to 5 ounces 
(equivalent to 3^ to 5^ ounces of raw 
meat), may be considered to contain some 
19 to 29 grams of protein, or approxi- 
mately half of the amount which is ordi- 
narily secured from animal food. An Qgg 
or a glass of milk contains about 8 grams 
more, so the housekeeper who gives each 
adult member of her family a helping of 
meat each day and eggs, milk, or cheese, 
together with the puddings or other dishes 
which contain eggs and milk, can feel sure 
that she is supplying sufficient protein, for 
the remainder necessary wull be supplied by 
bread, cereals, and other vegetable 
food. 

The nutrition investigations of the Of- 
fice of Experiment Stations show also that 
there is practically no difference between 
the various cuts of meat or the meats from 
different animals with respect to either the 
thoroughness or the ease with which they 
are digested. Therefore, those who wish 
to use the cheaper cuts need not feel that 
in so doing their families are less well 
nourished than by the more expensive 
meats. 



123 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

Relative Values and Prices of the 
Cuts of Meat 

The relative retail prices of the various 
cuts usually bear a direct relation to the 
favor with which they are regarded by the 
majority of persons, the juicy tender cuts 
of good flavor selling for the higher prices. 
When porterhouse steak sells for 25 cents 
a pound, it may be assumed that in town 
or village markets round steak would or- 
dinarily sell for about 15 cents, and chuck 
ribs, one of the best cuts of the forequarter, 
for 10 cents. This makes it appear that 
the chuck ribs are less than half as expen- 
sive as porterhouse steak and two-thirds as 
expensive as the round. But apparent econ- 
omy is not always real economy, and in this 
case the bones in the three cuts should be 
taken into account. Of the chuck ribs, 
m.ore than one-half is bone or other mate- 
rials usually classed under the head of 
■''waste" or ''refuse." Of the round, one- 
twelfth is waste, and of the porterhouse 
one-eighth. In buying the chuck, then, the 
housewife gets, at the prices assumed, less 
than one-half pound of food for 10 cents, 
making the net price of the edible portion 
22 cents a pound ; in buying round, she 
gets eleven-twelfths of a pound for 15 
cents, making the net value about 16^ 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 123 

cents ; in buying porterhouse, she gets sev- 
en-eighths of a pound for 25 cents, mak- 
ing the net vakie about 28^^ cents a pound. 
The relative prices, therefore, of the edible 
portions are 22^ 16^, and 285^2 cents; or 
to put it in a different way, a dollar at 
the prices assumed will buy 4^ pounds of 
solid meat from the cut, known as chuck, 
6 pounds of such meat from the round, 
and only 33^ pounds of such meat from 
the porterhouse. To this should be added 
the fact that because of the way in which 
porterhouse is usually cooked no nutriment 
is obtained from the bone, while by the 
long slow process by which the cheaper 
cuts, except when they are broiled or fried, 
are prepared the gelatin, fat, and flavoring 
material of the bone are extracted. The 
bones of meats that are cooked in water, 
therefore, are in a sense not all refuse, for 
they contain some food which may be se- 
cured by proper cookery. 

It is true, of course, that the bones of 
the steaks may be used for soup making, 
and that the nourishment may thus be uti- 
lized, but this must be done by a separate 
process from that of cooking the steak it- 
self. 

Texture and Flavor of Meat 

Although meats vary greatly in the 
amount of fat which they contain and to a 



1£>4 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

much less degree in their protein content, 
the chief difference to be noted between 
the cheaper and more expensive cuts is not 
so much in their nutritive value as in their 
texture and flavor. All muscle consists of 
tiny fibers which are tender in young ani- 
mals and in those parts of older ani- 
mals in which there has been little muscu- 
lar strain. Under the backbone in the 
hind quarter is the place from which the 
tenderest meat comes. This is usually 
called the tenderloin. Sometimes in beef 
and also in pork it is taken out whole and 
sometimes it is left to be cut up with the 
rest of the loin. In old animals, and in 
those parts of the body where there has 
been much muscular action, the neck and 
the legs for example, the muscle fibers are 
tough and hard. But there is another point 
which is of even greater importance than 
this. The fibers of all muscle are bound 
together in bundles and in groups of bun- 
dles by a thin membrane which is known 
as connective tissue. This membrane, if 
lieated in water or steam, is converted into 
gelatin. The process goes quickly if the 
meat is young and tender ; more slowly if it 
is tough. Connective tissue is also soluble in 
acetic acid, that acid to which the sourness 
of vinegar is due. For this reason it is 
possible to make meat more tender by 
soaking it in vinegar or in vinegar and 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 125 

water, the proportions of the two depend- 
ing on the strength of the vinegar. Sour 
beef or ''sauer fleisch," as it is known to 
Germans, is a palatable dish of this sort. 
Since vinegar is a preservative this suggests 
a method by which a surplus of beef may 
be kept for several days and then con- 
verted into a palatable dish. 

Flavor in meat depends mainly on cer- 
tain nitrogenous substances which are 
called extractives because they can be dis- 
solved out or ''extracted" by soaking the 
meat in cold water. The quality of the ex- 
tractives and the resulting flavor of the 
meat vary with the condition of the animal 
and in different parts of its body. They 
are usually considered better developed in 
older than in very young animals. Many 
persons suppose extractives or the flavor 
they cause are best in the most expensive 
cuts of meat ; in reality, cuts on the side 
of beef are often of better flavor than ten- 
der cuts, but owing to the difficulty of 
mastication this fact is frequently not de- 
tected. The extractives have little or no 
nutritive value in themselves, but they are 
of great importance in causing the secre- 
tion of digestive juices at the proper time, 
in the right amount, and of the right chemi- 
cal character. It is this quality which justi- 
fies the taking of soup at the beginning of 
a meal and the giving of broths, meat ex- 



126 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

tracts, and similar preparations to invalids 
and weak persons. These foods have little 
nutritive material in themselves, but they 
are great aids to the digestion of other 
foods. 

The amount of the extractives which will 
be brought out into the water when meat 
is boiled depends upon the size of the 
pieces into which the meat is cut and on the 
length of time they are soaked in cold 
water before being heated. A good way 
to hinder the escape of the flavoring mat- 
ter is to sear the surface of the meat 
quickly by heating it in fat, or the same 
end may be attained by plunging it into 
boiling water. Such solubility is taken 
advantage of in making beef tea at home 
and in the manufacture of meat extract, the 
extracted material being finally concentra- 
ted by evaporating the water. 

General AIethods of Cooking Meat 

The advantages of variety in the meth- 
ods of preparing and serving are to be con- 
sidered even more seriously in the cooking 
of the cheaper cuts than in the cooking of 
the more expensive ones, and yet even in 
this connection it is a mistake to lose sight 
of the fact that, though there is a great 
variety of dishes, the processes involved are 
few in number. 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 127 

An experienced teacher of cooking, a 
woman who has made very valuable con- 
tributions to the art of cookery by showing- 
that most of the numerous processes out- 
lined and elaborately described in the cook 
books can be classified under a very few 
heads, says that she tries "to reduce the 
cooking of meat to its lowest terms and 
teach only three ways of cooking. The 
first is the application of intense heat to 
keep in the juices. This is suitable only 
for portions of clear meat where the fibers 
are tender. By the second method the 
meats are put in cold water and cooked at 
a low temperature. This is suitable for 
bone, gristle, and the toughest portions of 
the meat which for this purpose should 
be divided into small bits. The third is a 
combination of these two processes and con- 
sists of searing and then stewing the meat. 
This is suitable for halfway cuts, i. e., those 
that are neither tender nor very tough." 
The many varieties of meat dishes are 
usually only a matter of flavor and gar- 
nish. 

In other words, of the three processes 
the first is the short method ; it aims to 
keep all the juices within the meat. The 
second is a very long method employed 
for the purpose of getting all or most of 
the juices out. The third is a combination 
of the two not so long as the second and 



128 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

yet requiring so much time that there is 
danger of the meat being rendered taste- 
less unless certain precautions are taken, 
such as searing in hot fat or plunging into 
boiHng water. 

There is a wide difference between ex- 
terior and interior cuts of meat with re- 
spect to tenderness induced by cooking. 
When beef flank is cooked by boiHng for 
two hours, the toughness of the fibers 
greatly increases during the first half hour 
of the cooking period, and then diminishes 
so that at the end of the cooking period 
the meat is found to be in about the same 
condition with respect to toughness or ten- 
derness of the fibers as at the beginning. 
On the other hand, in case of the tender- 
loin, there is a decrease in toughness of the 
fibers throughout the cooking period which 
is particularly marked in the first few min- 
utes of cooking, and at the end of the 
cooking period the meat fibers are only 
half as tough as before cooking. 



CHAPTER XII 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

Texture and Flavor of Meat — General 
Methods of Cooking Meat — Economies 
in Use of Meat. 

A good idea of the changes which take 
place while meat is being cooked can be 
obtained by examining a piece of flesh 
which has been "cooked to pieces," as the 
saying goes. In this the muscular fibers 
may be seen completely separated one from 
another, showing that the connective tissue 
has been destroyed. It is also evident that 
the libers themselves are of different tex- 
ture from those in the raw meat. In pre- 
paring meat for the table it is usual to 
stop short of the point of disintegration, but 
while the long process of cooking is going 
on the connective tissue is gradually soft- 
ening and the fibers are gradually chang- 
ing in texture. The former is the thing 
to be especially desired, but the latter is 
not. For this reason it is necessary to keep 

129 



130 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

the temperature below the boihng point and 
as low as is consistent with thorough cook- 
ing, for cooks seem agreed, as the result 
of experience shows, that slow gentle 
cooking results in better texture than is 
the case when meat is boiled rapidly. This 
is the philosophy that lies back of the sim- 
mering process. 

Losses of elements vary considerably 
with the method of cooking employed, be- 
ing of course greatest where small pieces 
of meat are subjected to prolonged cook- 
ing. The chief loss in weight when meat 
is cooked is due to the driving of¥ of water. 
When beef is cooked by pan broiling — that 
is, searing in a hot, greased pan, a com- 
mon cooking process — no great loss of nu- 
trition results, particularly if the fat and 
other substances adhering to the pan are 
utilized in the preparation of gravy. When 
beef is cooked by boiling, there is a loss 
of 3 to 20 per cent, of material present, 
though this is not an actual loss if the 
broth is utilized for soup or in some simi- 
lar way. Even in the case of meat which 
is used for the preparation of beef tea or 
broth, the losses of nutritive material are 
apparently smiall though much of the fla- 
voring matter has been removed. The 
amount of fat found in broth varies directly 
with the amount originally present in the 
meat ; the fatter the meat the greater the 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 131 

quantity of fat in the broth. The loss of 
water in cooking varies inversely with the 
fatness of the meat; that is, the fatter the 
meat the smaller the shrinkage due to loss 
of water. In cooked meat the loss of 
various constituents is inversely propor- 
tional to the size of the cut. In other 
words, the smaller the piece of meat the' 
greater the percentage of loss. Loss also 
appears to be dependent somewhat upon 
the length of time the cooking is contin- 
ued. When pieces of meat weighing i^ to 
5 pounds are cooked in water somewhat 
under the boiling point there appears to be 
little difference in the amount of material 
found in broth whether the meat is placed 
in cold water or hot water at the beginning 
of the cooking period. When meat is 
roasted in the oven the amount of material 
removed is somewhat affected by the char- 
acter of the roasting pan and similar fac- 
tors, thus the total loss in weight is nat- 
urally greater in an open than in a closed 
pan as the open pan offers more opportun- 
ity for the evaporation of water. Judging 
from the average results of a considerable 
number of tests, it appears that a roast 
weighing 6 pounds raw should weigh 5 
pounds after cooking, or in other words the 
loss is about one-sixth of the original 
weight. This means that if the raw meat 
costs 20 cents per pound the cooked would 



132 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

represent an increase of 4 cents a pound on 
the original cost ; but this increase would, 
of course, be lessened if all the drippings 
and gravy are utilized. 

Economies in Use of Meat 

The expense for meat in the home may- 
be reduced in several ways, and each house- 
keeper can best judge which to use in her 
own case. From a careful consideration of 
the subject it appears that the various sug- 
gestions which have been made on the sub- 
ject may be grouped under the following 
general heads : Economy in selection and 
purchase so as to take advantage of vary- 
ing market conditions ; purchasing meat in 
wholesale quantities for home use ; serving 
smaller portions of meat than usual or us- 
ing meat less frequently ; careful attention 
to the use of meat, bone, fat, and small 
portions commonly trimmed oft" and thrown 
away and the utilization of left-over por- 
tions of cooked meat; and the use of the 
less expensive kinds. 

The choice of cuts should correspond 
to the needs of the family and the prefer- 
ences of its members. Careful considera- 
tion of market conditions is also useful, not 
only to make sure that the meat is handled 
and marketed in a sanitary way, but also 
to take advantage of any favorable change 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 13S 

in price which may be due, for instance, to 
a large local supply of some particular 
kind or cut of meat. In towns where there 
is opportunity for choice, it may sometimes 
be found more satisfactory not to give all 
the family trade to one butcher ; by going 
to various markets before buying the house- 
keeper is in a better position to hear of 
variations in prices and so be in a position 
to get the best values. Ordering iDy tele- 
phone or from the butcher's boy at the 
door may be less economical than going to 
market in person as the range of choice and 
prices is of course more obvious when the 
purchaser sees the goods and has a chance 
to observe market conditions. Eacli house- 
keeper must decide for herself whether or 
not the greater convenience compensates 
for the smaller range of choice which 
such ordering from description entails. No 
matter what the cut, whether expensive or 
cheap, it can not be utilized to the best 
advantage unless it is well cooked. A 
cheap cut of meat, vv^ell cooked, is always 
preferable to a dear one spoiled in the 
preparation. 

There is sometimes an advantage in using 
canned meat and meat products, and, if 
they are of good quality, such products 
are wholesome and palatable. 

That economy is furthered by careful 
serving at table is obvious. If more meat 



134 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

is given at each serving than the person 
vrishes or habitually eats the table waste is 
unduly increased. Economy in all such 
points is important and not beneath the 
dignity of the family. 

In many American families meat is eaten 
two or three times a day ; in such cases the 
simplest way of reducing the meat bill 
would very likely be to cut down the 
amount used, either by serving it less often 
or by using less at a time. Deficiency of 
protein need not be feared when one good 
meat dish a day is served, especially if 
such nitrogenous materials as eggs, milk, 
cheese, and beans are used instead. In 
localities where fish can be obtained fresh 
and cheap, it might well be more frequently 
substituted for meat for the sake of variety 
as well as economy. Ingenious cooks have 
many ways of "extending the flavor" of 
meat, that is, of combining a small quan- 
tity with other materials to make a large 
dish, as in meat pies, stews, and similar 
dishes. 

By buying in large quantities under cer- 
tain conditions it may be possible to pro- 
cure meat at better prices than those which 
ordinarily prevail in the retail market. The 
whole side or quarter of an animal can 
frequently be obtained at noticeably less 
cost per pound than when it is bought by 
cut, and can be used to advantage when 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 135 

the housekeeper understands the art and 
has proper storage facilities and a good- 
sized family. When a hind quarter of mut- 
ton, for example, comes from the market 
the flank (on which the meat is thin and, 
as good housekeepers believe, likely to 
spoil more easily than some other cuts) 
should be cooked immediately, or, if pre- 
ferred, it may be covered with a thin layer 
of fat (rendered suet) which can be easily 
removed when the time for cooking comes. 
The flank, together with the rib bone, ordi- 
narily makes a gallon of good Scotch broth. 
The remainder of the hind quarter may be 
used for roast or chops. The whole pig 
carcass has always been used by families 
living on the farms where the animals are 
slaughtered, and in village homes ; town 
housekeepers not infrequently buy pigs 
whole and *'put down" the meat. An ani- 
mal six months old and weighing about one 
hundred pounds would be suitable for this 
purpose. The hams and thin pieces of belly 
meat may be pickled and smoked. The 
thick pieces of belly meat, packed in a two- 
gallon jar and covered with salt or brine, 
will make a supply of fat pork to cook 
with beans and other vegetables. The ten- 
derloin makes good roasts, the head and 
feet may go into head cheese or scrapple, 
and the trimmings and other scraps of lean 
meat serve for a few pounds of home-made 



136 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

sausage. In some large families it is found 
profitable to ''corn" a fore quarter of beef 
for spring and summer use. Formerly it 
was a common farm practice to dry beef, 
but now it seems to be more usual to pur- 
chase beef which has been dried in large 
establishments. The general use of refrig- 
erators and ice chests in homes at the pres- 
ent time has had a great influence on the 
length of time meat may be kept and so 
upon the amount a housewife may buy at 
a time with advantage. 

In the percentage of fat present in dif- 
ferent kinds and cuts of meat, a greater 
difference exists than in the percentage of 
proteids. The lowest percentage of fat is 
8.1 per cent, in the shank of beef; the 
highest is 32 per cent, in pork chops. The 
highest priced cuts, loin and ribs of beef, 
contain 20 to 25 per cent. If the fat of 
the meat is not eaten at the table, and is 
not utilized otherwise, a pecuniary loss re- 
sults. If butter is the fat used in making 
crusts for meat pies, and in preparing the 
cheaper cuts, there is little economy in- 
volved; the fats from other meat should 
therefore be saved, as they may be used 
in place of butter in such cases, as well as 
in preparing many other foods. The fat 
from sausage or from the soup kettle, or 
from a pot roast, which is savory because 
it has been cooked with vegetables, is par- 



PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 13T 

ticularly acceptable. Sometimes savory 
vegetables, onion, or sweet herbs are added 
to fat when it is tried out to give it flavor. 
Almost any meat bones can be used in 
soup making, and if the meat is not all 
removed from them the soup is better. But 
some bones, especially the rib bones, if they 
have a little meat left on them, can be 
grilled or roasted into very palatable dishes. 
The "sparerib" of southern cooks is made 
of the rib bones from a roast of pork, and 
makes a favorite dish when well browned. 
The braised ribs of beef often served in 
high-class restaurants are made from the 
bones cut from rib roasts. In this connec- 
tion it may be noted that many of the 
dishes popular in good hotels are made of 
portions of meat such as are frequently 
thrown away in private houses, but which 
with proper cooking and seasoning make 
attractive dishes and give most acceptable 
variety to the menu. An old recipe for 
"broiled bones" directs that the bone (beef 
ribs or sirloin bones on which the meat is 
not left too thick in any part) be sprinkled 
with salt and pepper (Cayenne), and 
broiled over a clear fire until browned. An- 
other example of the use of bones is boiled 
marrow bone. The bones are cut in con- 
venient lengths, the ends covered with a 
little piece of dough over which a floured 
cloth is tied, and cooked in boiling water 



138 PRINCIPLES OF COOKING 

for two hours. After removing the cloth 
and dough, the bones are placed upright 
on toast and served. Prepared as above, 
the bones may also be baked in a deep 
dish. Marrow is sometimes removed from 
bones after cooking, seasoned, and served 
on toast. 

Trimmings from meat may be utilized in 
various "made dishes," or they can al- 
^vays be put to good use in the soup ket- 
tle. It is surprising how many economies 
may be practiced in such ways and also in 
the table use of left-over portions of 
cooked meat if attention is given to the 
matter. Many of the following recipes in- 
volve the use of such left-overs. Others 
will suggest themselves or may be found 
m all the usual cookery books. 



CHAPTER XIII 

RECIPES FOR MEAT DISHES 

Trying out Fat — Extending the Flavor of 
Meat — Meat Stew — Meat Dumplings 
— Meat Pies and Similar Dishes — 
Meat with Starchy Materials — Turk- 
ish Pilaf — Stew from Cold Roast — 
Meat with Beans — Haricot of Mutton 
— Meat Salads — Meat with Eggs — 
Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding 
— Corned Beef Hash with Poached 
Eggs — Stuffing — Mock Duck — Veal 
or Beef Birds — Utilizing the Cheaper 
Cuts of Meat. 

"To be a good cook means the knowl- 
edge of all fruits, herbs, balms and spices, 
and of all that is healing and sweet in 
fields and groves, savory in meats. It 
means carefulness, inventiveness, watch- 
fulness, willingness, and readiness of appli- 
ance. It means the economy of your great- 
grandmother and the science of modern 
chemistry; it means much tasting and no 

139 



140 MEAT DISHES 

wasting; it means English thoroughness, 
French art, and Arabian hospitahty ; it 
means, in fine, that you are to be perfectly 
and always ladies (loaf-givers), and are to 
see that everybody has something nice to 
eat." — John Ruskin. 

RECIPES 

(In these directions a level spoonful or 
level cupful is called for.) 

TRYING OUT FAT 

A double boiler is the best utensil to use in 
trying out small portions of fat. There is no 
danger of burning the fat, and the odor is much 
less noticeable than if it is heated in a dish set 
directly over the fire. 

Common household methods of extend- 
ing the meat flavor through a consider- 
able quantity of material which would oth- 
erwise be lacking in distinctive taste are 
to serve the meat with dumplings, general- 
ly in the dish with it, to combine the meat 
with crusts, as in meat pies or meat 
rolls, or to serve the meat on toast and 
biscuits. Borders of rice, hominy, or 
mashed potatoes are examples of the same 
principles applied in different ways. By 
serving some preparation of flour, rice, 
hominy, or other food rich in starch with 
the meat we get a dish which in itself ap- 



MEAT DISHES 141 

preaches nearer to the balanced ration than 
meat alone and one in which the meat 
flavor is extended through a large amount 
of the material. 

MEAT STEW 

5 pounds of a cheaper cut of beef. 

4 cups of potatoes cut into small pieces. 

2/3 cup each of turnips and carrots cut into 
J/2-inch cubes. 

14 onion, chopped. 

% cup of flour. 

Salt and pepper. 

Cut the meat into small pieces, removing the 
fat ; try out the fat and brown the meat in it. 
When well browned, cover with boiling water, 
boil for five minutes and then cook in a lower 
temperature until the meat is done. If tender, 
this will require about three hours on the stove 
or five hours in the fireless cooker. Add carrots, 
turnips, onions, pepper, and salt during the last 
hour of cooking, and the potatoes fifteen min- 
utes before serving. Thicken with the flour di- 
luted with cold water. Serve with dumplings 
(see below). If this dish is made in the fireless 
cooker, the mixture must be reheated when the 
vegetables are put in. Such a stew may also be 
made of mutton. If veal or pork is used the 
vegetables may be omitted or simply a little 
onion used. Sometimes for variety the brown- 
ing of the meat is dispensed with. When white 
meat, such as chicken, veal, or fresh pork is 
used, the gravy is often made rich with cream 
or milk thickened with flour. The numerous 
minor additions which may be introduced give 
the great variety of such stews found in cook- 
books. 



142 MEAT DISHES 

MEAT DUMPLINGS 

2 cups flour. 

4 teaspoonfuls baking powder. 

2/3 cup milk or a little more if needed. 

J/2 teaspoonful salt. 

2 teaspoonfuls butter. 

Mix and sift the dry ingredients. Work in 
the butter with the tips of fingers, add milk 
gradually, roll out to a thickness of one-half 
Jnch, and cut with biscuit cutter. In some coun- 
tries it is customary to season the dumplings 
themselves with herbs, etc., or to stuff them 
with bread crumbs fried in butter, instead of de- 
pending upon the gravy to season them. 

A good way to cook dumplings is to put them 
in a buttered steamer over a kettle of hot water. 
They should cook from twelve to fifteen min- 
utes. If it is necessary to cook them with the 
stew, enough liquid should be removed so that 
they may be placed upon the meat and vege- 
tables. 

Sometimes the dough is baked and served as 
biscuits over which the stew is poured. If the 
stew is made with chicken or veal it is generally 
termed a fricassee. 

MEAT PIES AND SIMILAR DISHES 

Meat pies represent another method of 
combining flour with meat. They are or- 
dinarily baked in a fairly deep dish the 
sides of which may or may not be lined 
with dough. The cooked meat, cut into 
small pieces, is put into the dish, some- 
times with small pieces of vegetables, a 
gravy is poured over the meat, the dish is 



MEAT DISHES 145 

covered with a layer of dough, and then 
baked. Most commonly the dough is Uke 
that used for soda or cream-of-tartar bis- 
cuit, but sometimes shortened pastry 
dough, such as is made for pies, is used. 
This is especially the case in the fancy 
individual dishes usually called patties. Oc- 
casionally the pie is covered with a potato 
crust in which case the meat is put directly 
into the dish without lining the latter. 
Stewed beef, veal, and chicken are prob- 
ably most frequently used in pies, but any 
kind of meat may be used, or several kinds 
in combination. Pork pies are favorite 
dishes in many rural regions, especially 
at hog-killing time, and when well made 
are excellent. 

If pies are made from raw meat and 
vegetables longer cooking is needed than 
otherv/ise, and in such cases it is well to 
cover the dish with a plate, cook until the 
pie is nearly done, then remove the plate, 
add the crust, and return to the oven until 
the crust is lightly browned. Many cooks 
insist on piercing holes in the top crust of 
a meat pie directly it is taken from the 
oven. 

MEAT AND TOMATO PIE 

This dish presents an excellent way of usin^ 
up small quantities of either cold beef or cold 
mutton. If fresh tomatoes are used, peel and 
slice them; if canned, drain off the liquid. Place 



144 MEAT DISHES 

a layer of tomato in a baking dish, then a layer 
of sliced meat, and over the two dredge flour, 
pepper, and salt ; repeat until the dish is nearly 
full, then put in an extra layer of tomato and 
cover the whole with a layer of pastry or of 
bread or cracker crumbs. When the quantity of 
meat is small, it may be '.'helped out" by boiled 
potatoes or other suitable vegetables. A few 
oysters or mushrooms improve the flavor, espe- 
cially when beef is used. The pie will need to 
be baked from half an hour to an hour, accord- 
ing to its size and the heat of the oven. 

MEAT WITH STARCHY MATERIALS 

Macaroni cooked with chopped ham, 
hash made of meat and potatoes or meat 
and rice, meat croquettes — made of meat 
and some starchy materials like bread 
crumbs, cracker dust, or rice — are other 
familiar examples of meat combined with 
starchy materials. Pilaf, a dish very com- 
mon in the Orient and well known in the 
United States, is of this character and eas- 
ily made. When there is soup or soup 
stock on hand it can be well used in the 
pilaf. 

TURKISH PILAF 

5^ cup of rice. 

^ cup of tomatoes stewed and strained. 

I cup stock or broth. 

3 tablespoonfuls of butter. 

Cook the rice and tomatoes with the stock in 
a double boiler until the rice is tender, removing 
the cover after the rice is cooked if there is too 



MEAT DISHES 145 

much liquid. Add the butter and stir it in with 
a fork to prevent the rice from being broken. 
A little catsup or Chili sauce with water enough 
to make three-quarters of a cup may be substi- 
tuted for the tomatoes. This may be served as 
a border with meat, or served separately in the 
place of a vegetable, or may make the main dish 
at a meal, as it is savory and reasonably nutri- 
tious. 

STEW FROM COLD ROAST 

This dish provides a good way of using up 
the remnants of a roast, either of beef or mutton, 
The meat should be freed from fat, gristle, and 
bones, cut into small pieces, slightly salted, and 
put into a kettle with water enough to nearly 
cover it. It should simmer until almost ready 
to break in pieces, when onions and raw potatoes, 
peeled and quartered, should be added. A little 
soup stock may also be added if available. Cook 
until the potatoes are done, then thicken the 
liquor or gravy with flour. The stew may be 
attractively served on slices of crisp toast. 

MEAT WITH BEANS 

Dry beans are very rich in protein, the 
percentage being fully as large as that in 
meat. Dry beans and other similar legumes 
are usually cooked in water, which they 
absorb, and so are diluted before serving; 
on the other hand, meats by the ordinary 
methods of cooking are usually deprived 
of some of the water originally present — 
facts which are often overlooked in discuss- 
ing the matter. Nevertheless, when beans 
are served with meat the dish is almost as 



146 MEAT DISHES 

rich in protein as if it consisted entirely of 
meat. 

Pork and beans is such a well-known 
dish that recipes are not needed. Some 
cooks use a piece of corned mutton or a 
piece of corned beef in place of salt or 
corned pork or bacon or use butter or olive 
oil in preparing- this dish. 

In the Southern States, where cowpeas 
are a common crop, they are cooked in the 
same way as dried beans. Cowpeas baked 
with salt pork or bacon make an excellent 
dish resembling pork and beans, but of dis- 
tinctive flavor. Cowpeas boiled with ham 
or with bacon are also well-known and 
palatable dishes. 

HARICOT OF MUTTON 

2 tablespoonfnls of chopped onions. 

2 tablespoonfnls of butter or drippings. 

2 Clips of water, and salt and pepper. 

iy2 pounds of lean mutton or lamb cut into 
2-inch pieces. 

Fry the onions in the butter, add the meat, 
and brown; cover with water and cook until the 
meat is tender. Serve with a border of Lima 
beans, seasoned with salt, pepper, butter, and 
a little chopped parsley. Fresh, canned, dried, 
or evaporated Lima beans may be used in mak- 
ing this dish. 

MEAT SALADS 

Whether meat salads are economical or 
not depends upon the way in which the 



MEAT DISHES 147 

materials are utilized. If in chicken salad, 
for example, only the white meat of chick- 
ens especially bought for the purpose and 
only the inside stems of expensive celery 
are used, it can hardly be cheaper than 
plain chicken. But, if portions of meat left 
over from a previous serving are mixed 
with celery grown at home, they certainly 
make an economical dish, and one very ac- 
ceptable to most persons. Cold roast pork 
or tender veal — in fact, any white meat 
can be utilized in the same way. Apples 
cut into cubes may be substituted for part 
of the celery; many cooks consider that 
with the apple the salad takes the dressing 
better than with the celery alone. Many 
also prefer to marinate (i. e., mix with a 
little oil and vinegar) the meat and celery 
or celery and apples before putting in the 
final dressing, which may be either mayon- 
naise or a good boiled dressing. 

MEAT WITH EGGS 

Occasionally eggs are combined with 
meat, making very nutritious dishes. 
Whether this is an economy or not of 
course depends on the comparative cost 
of eggs and meat. 

In general, it may be said that eggs are 
cheaper food than meat when a dozen 
costs less than 1J/2 pounds of meat, for a 



148 MEAT DISHES 

dozen eggs weigh about ly^ pounds and 
the proportions of protein and fat which 
they contain are not far different from the 
proportions of these nutrients in the aver- 
age cut of meat. When eggs are 30 cents 
a dozen they compare favorably with a 
round of beef at 20 cents a pound. 

Such common dishes as ham and eggs, 
bacon or salt pork and eggs, and omelette 
with minced ham or other meat are fa- 
miliar to all cooks. 

ROAST BEEF WITH YORKSHIRE PUDDING 

The beef is roasted as usual and the pudding 
made as follows : 

3 eggs. 

I pint milk. 

I cupful flour. 

I teaspoonful salt. 

Beat the eggs until very light, then add the 
milk. Pour the mixture over the flour, add the 
salt, and beat well. Bake in hissing hot gem 
pans or in an ordinary baking pan for forty-five 
minutes, and baste with drippings from the beef. 
If gem pans are used they should be placed on a 
dripping pan to protect the floor of the oven 
from the fat. Many cooks prefer to bake York- 
shire pudding in the pan with the meat; in this 
case the roast should be placed on a rack and 
the pudding batter poured on the pan under it. 

CORNED-BEEF HASH WITH POACHED EGGS 

A dish popular with many persons is corned- 
beef hash with poached eggs on top of the hash. 
A slice of toast is sometimes used under the 



MEAT DISHES U9 

hash. This suggests a way of utilizing the small 
amount of corned-beef hash which would other- 
wise be insufficient for a meal. 

Housekeepers occasionally use up odd bits of 
other meat in a similar way, chopping and sea- 
soning them and then warming and serving in 
individual baking cups with a poached or shirred 
egg on each. 

STUFFING 

Another popular way to extend the 
flavor of meat over a large amount of 
food is by the use of stuffing. As it is im- 
possible to introduce much stuffing into 
some pieces of meat even if the meat is cut 
to make a pocket for it, it is often well to 
prepare more than can be put into the meat 
and to cook the remainder in the pan be- 
side the meat. Some cooks cover the extra 
stuffing with buttered paper while it is 
cooking and baste it at intervals. 

MOCK DUCK 

Mock duck is made by placing on a round 
steak a stuffing of bread crumbs well seasoned 
with chopped onions, butter, chopped suet or 
dripping, salt, pepper, and a little sage, if the 
flavor is relished. The steak is then rolled 
around the stuffing and tied with a string in 
several places. If the steak seems tough, the 
roll is steamed or stewed until tender before 
roasting in the oven until brown. Or it may 
be cooked in a casserole or other covered dish, 
in which case a cupful or more of water or 
soup-stock should be poured around the meat. 



150 MEAT DISHES 

Mock duck is excellent served with currant or 
other acid jelly. 

VEAL OR BEEP BIRDS 

A popular dish known as veal or beef birds 
or by a variety of special names is made by tak- 
ing small pieces of meat, each just large enough 
for an individual serving, and preparing them 
in the same way as the mock duck is prepared. 

Sometimes variety is introduced by seasoning 
the stuffing with chopped olives or tomato. Many 
cooks prepare their "birds" by browning in a 
little fat, then adding a little water, covering 
closely and simmering until tender. 



UTILIZING THE CHEAPER CUTS OF MEAT 

When the housekeeper attempts to re- 
duce her meat bill by using the less ex- 
pensive cuts, she commonly has two diffi- 
culties to contend with — toughness and 
lack of flavor. It has been shown how 
prolonged cooking softens the connective 
tissues of the meat. Pounding the meat 
and chopping it are also employed with 
tough cuts, as they help to break the 
muscle fibers. As for flavor, the natural 
flavor of meat even in the least desirable 
cuts may be developed by careful cooking, 
notably by browning the surface, and other 
flavors may be given by the addition of 
vegetables and seasoning with condiments 
of various kinds. 



CHAPTER XIV 

RECIPES FOR MEAT DISHES 

Prolonged Cooking at Low Heat — Stewed 
Shin of Beef — Boiled Beef with Horse- 
radish Sauce — Stuffed Heart — Braised 
Beef, Pot Roast, and Beef a la Mode — 
Hungarian Goulash — Casserole Cook- 
ery — Meat Cooked with Vinegar — 
Sour Beef — Sour Beefsteak — Pounded 
Meat — Farmer Stew — Spanish Beef- 
steak — Chopped Meat — Savory Rolls 
— Developing Flavor of Meat — Re- 
taining Natural Flavo r — Round 
Steak on Biscuits — F 1 a v o r of 
Browned Meat or Fat — Salt Pork 
with Milk Gravy— "Salt-Fish Dinner" 
— Sauces — Mock Venison. 

PROLONGED COOKING AT LOW HEAT 

Meat may be cooked in water in a num- 
ber of ways without being allowed to reach 
the boiling point. With the ordinary 
kitchen range this is accomplished by cook- 
ing on the cooler part of the stove rather 

151 



150 MEAT DISHES 

Mock duck is excellent served with currant or 
other acid jelly. 

VEAL OR BEEF BIRDS 

A popular dish known as veal or beef birds 
or by a variety of special names is made by tak- 
ing small pieces of meat, each just large enough 
for an individual serving, and preparing them 
in the same way as the mock duck is prepared. 

Sometimes variety is introduced by seasoning 
the stuffing with chopped olives or tomato. Many 
cooks prepare their "birds" by browning in a 
little fat, then adding a little water, covering 
closely and simmering until tender. 



UTILIZING THE CHEAPER CUTS OF MEAT 

When the housekeeper attempts to re- 
duce her meat bill by using the less ex- 
pensive cuts, she commonly has two diffi- 
culties to contend with — toughness and 
lack of flavor. It has been shown how 
prolonged cooking softens the connective 
tissues of the meat. Pounding the meat 
and chopping it are also employed with 
tough cuts, as they help to break the 
muscle fibers. As for flavor, the natural 
flavor of meat even in the least desirable 
cuts may be developed by careful cooking, 
notably by browning the surface, and other 
flavors may be given by the addition of 
vegetables and seasoning with condiments 
of various kinds. 



CHAPTER XIV 

RECIPES FOR MEAT DISHES 

Prolonged Cooking at Low Heat — Stewed 
Shin of Beef — Boiled Beef with Horse- 
radish Sauce — Stuffed Heart — Braised 
Beef, Pot Roast, and Beef a la Mode — 
Hungarian Goulash — Casserole Cook- 
ery — Meat Cooked with Vinegar — 
Sour Beef — Sour Beefsteak — Pounded 
Meat — Farmer Stew — Spanish Beef- 
steak — Chopped Meat — Savory Rolls 
— Developing Flavor of Meat — Re- 
taining Natural Flavo r — Round 
Steak on Biscuits — F 1 a v o r of 
Browned Meat or Fat — Salt Pork 
with Milk Gravy— "Salt-Fish Dinner" 
— Sauces — Mock Venison. 

PROLONGED COOKING AT LOW HEAT 

Meat may be cooked in water in a num- 
ber of ways without being allowed to reach 
the boiling point. With the ordinary 
kitchen range this is accomplished by cook- 
ing on the cooler part of the stove rather 

151 



152 MEAT DISHES 

than on the hottest part, directly over the 
fire. Experience with a gas stove, particu- 
larly if it has a small burner known as 
a ''simmerer," usually enables the cook to 
maintain temperatures which are high 
enough to sterilize the meat if it has be- 
come accidentally contaminated in any way 
and to make it tender without hardening 
the fibers. The double boiler would seem 
to be a neglected utensil for this purpose. 
Its contents can easily be kept up to a tem- 
perature of 200° F., and nothing will burn. 
Another method is by means of the fireless 
cooker. In this a high temperature can 
be maintained for a long time without the 
application of fresh heat. Still another 
method is by means of a closely covered 
baking dish. Earthenware dishes of this 
kind suitable for serving foods as well as 
for cooking are known as casseroles. For 
cooking purposes a baking dish covered 
with a plate or a bean jar covered with 
a saucer may be substituted. The Aladdin 
oven has long been popular for the pur- 
pose of preserving temperatures which are 
near the boiling point and yet do not reach 
it. It is a thoroughly insulated oven which 
may be heated either by a kerosone lamp or 
a gas jet. 

In this connection directions are given 
for using some of the toughest and less 
promising pieces of meat. 



MEAT DISHES 153 

STEWED SHIN OF BEEF 

4 pounds of shin of beef. 

I medium-sized onion. 

I whole clove and a small bay leaf. 

I sprig of parsley. 

lYz tablespoonfuls of flour. 

1 small slice of carrot. 
]/2 tablespoonful of salt. 
yz teaspoonful of pepper. 

2 quarts of boiling water. 

i^ tablespoonfuls of butter or savory drip- 
pings. 

Have the butcher cut the bone in several 
pieces. Put all the ingredients but the flour and 
butter into a stewpan and bring to a boil. Set 
the pan where the liquid will just simmer for 
six hours, or after boiling for five or ten min- 
utes, put all into the fireless cooker for eight or 
nine hours. With the butter, flour, and one-half 
cupful of the clear soup from which the fat has 
been removed, make a brown sauce (see p. 39) ; 
to this add the meat and the marrow removed 
from the bone. Heat and serve. The remainder 
of the liquid in which the meat has been cooked 
may be used for soup. 

BOILED BEEF WITH HORSERADISH SAUCE 

Plain boiled beef may also be served with 
horseradish sauce, and makes a palatable dish. 
A little chopped parsley sprinkled over the meat 
when served is considered an improvement by 
many persons. For the sake of variety the meat 
may be browned like pot roast before serving, 

STUFFED HEART 

Wash the heart thoroughly inside and out, 
stuff with the following mixture, and sew up the- 



154 MEAT DISHES 

opening: One cup broken bread dipped in fat 
and browned in the oven, i chopped onion, and 
salt and pepper to taste. 

Cover the heart with water and simmer until 
tender or boil ten minutes and set in the fireless 
cooker for six or eight hours. Remove from 
the water about one-half hour before serving. 
Dredge with flour, pepper, and salt, or sprinkle 
with crumbs and bake until brown. 

BRAISED BEEF, FOT ROAST, AND BEEF A LA MODE 

The above names are given to dishes made 
from the less tender cuts of meat. They vary 
little either in composition or method of prepara- 
tion. In all cases the meat is browned on the 
outside to increase the flavor and then cooked 
in a small amount of water in a closely covered 
kettle or other receptable until tender. The fla- 
vor of the dish is secured by browning the meat 
and by the addition of the seasoning vegetables. 
Many recipes suggest that the vegetables be re- 
moved before serving and the liquid be thick- 
ened. As the vegetables are usually extremely 
well seasoned by means of the brown fat and 
the extracts of the meat, it seems unfortunate 
not to serve them. 

Of course, the kind, quality, and shape of the 
tneat all play their part in the matter. Extra 
time is needed for meats with a good deal of 
sinew and tough fibers, such as the tough steaks, 
shank cuts, etc. ; and naturally a fillet of beef, or 
a steak from a prime cut, will take less time 
than a thick piece from the shin. Such dishes 
require more time and perhaps more skill in 
their preparation and may involve more expense 
for fuel than the more costly cuts, which like 
chops or tender steaks may be quickly cooked, 
but to the epicure, as well as to the average man, 
they are palatable when rightly prepared. 



MEAT DISHES US 

HUNGARIAN GOULASH 

2 pounds top round of beef. 

A little flour. 

2 ounces salt pork. 

2 cups tomatoes. 

I stalk celery. 

1 onion. 

2 bay leaves. 

6 whole cloves. 

6 peppercorns. 

I blade mace. 

Cut the beef into 2-inch pieces and sprinkle 
with flour; fry the salt pork until light brown; 
add the beef and cook slowly for about thirty- 
five minutes, stirring occasionally. Cover with 
water and simmer about two hours ; season with 
salt and pepper or paprika. 

From the vegetables and spices a sauce is 
made as follows : Cook in sufficient water to 
cover for twenty minutes ; then rub through a 
sieve, and add to some of the stock in which the 
meat was cooked. Thicken with flour, using 2 
tablespoonfuls (moistened with cold water) to 
each cup of liquid, and season with salt and 
paprika. 

Serve the meat on a platter with the sauce 
poured over it. Potatoes, carrots, and green 
peppers cooked until tender, and cut into small 
pieces or narrow strips, are usually sprinkled 
over the dish when served, and noodles may be 
arranged in a border upon the platter. 

Goulash is a Hungarian dish which has come 
to be a favorite in the United States. 

CASSEROLE COOKERY 

A casserole is a heavy earthenware dish with 
a cover. A substitute for it can easily be im- 
provised by using any heavy earthenware dish 



156 MEAT DISHES 

with a heavy plate for the cover. A casserole 
presentable enough in appearance to be put on 
the table serves the double purpose of baking 
and serving dish. 

A suitable cut of beef or veal, and it may 
well be one of the cheaper cuts, as the long, 
slow cooking insures tenderness, may be cooked 
in a casserole. 

Poultry and other meats besides beef or veal 
can be cooked in this manner. Chicken cooked 
in a casserole, which is a favorite and expen- 
sive dish in good hotels and restaurants, may be 
easily prepared in the home, and casserole cook- 
ery is to be recommended for a tough chicken. 

The heat must be moderate and the cooking 
must occupy a long time. Hurried cooking in a 
casserole is out of the question. If care is taken 
in this particular, and suitable seasonings are 
used, few who know anything of cooking should 
go astray. 

Chopped meat also may be cooked in a casse- 
role and this utensil is particularly useful for 
the purpose, because the food is served in the 
same dish in which it is cooked and may easily 
be kept hot, a point which is important with 
chopped meats, which usually cool rapidly. 

MEAT COOKED WITH VINEGAR 

Dishes of similar sort as regards cook- 
ing-, but in which vinegar is used to give 
flavor as well as to soften the meat and 
make it tender, are the following: 

SOUR BEEF 

Take a piece of beef from the rump or the 
lower round, cover with vinegar or with a half- 



MEAT DISHES 157 

and-half mixture of vinegar and water, add sliced 
onion, bay leaves, and a few mixed whole spices 
and salt. Allow to stand a week in winter or 
three or four days in summer; turn once a day 
and keep covered. When ready to cook, brown 
the meat in fat, using an enameled iron pan, 
strain the liquid over it and cook until tender; 
thicken the gravy with flour or ginger snaps 
(which may be broken up first), strain it, and 
pour over the sliced meat. Some cooks add 
cream. 

SOUR BEEFSTEAK 

Round steak may be cooked in water in which 
there is a little vinegar, or if the time is suffi- 
cient, it may be soaked for a few hours in vine- 
gar and water and then cooked in a casserole or 
in some similar way. 

POUNDED MEAT 

Pounding meat before cooking is an old- 
fashioned method of making it tender, but 
while it has the advantage of breaking 
down the tough tissues it has the disad- 
vantage of being likely to drive out the 
juices and with them the flavor. A very 
good way of escaping this difficulty is 
pounding flour into the meat ; this catches 
and retains the juices. Below are given 
the recipes for two palatable dishes in 
which this is done : 

FARMER STEW 

Pound flour into both sides of a round steak, 
using as much as the meat will take up. This 



158 MEAT DISHES 

may be done with a meat pounder or with the 
edge of a heavy plate. Fry in drippings, butter, 
or other fat, in a Scotch bowl, or if more con- 
venient in an ordinary iron kettle or a frying 
pan ; then add water enough to cover it. Cover 
the dish very tightly so that the steam cannot 
escape and allow the meat to simmer for two 
hours or until it is tender. One advantage of 
this dish is that ordinarily it is ready to serve 
when the meat is done as the gravy is already 
thickened. However, if a large amount of fat 
is used in the frying, the gravy may not be thick 
enough and must be blended with flour. 

SPANISH BEEFSTEAK 

Take a piece of round steak weighing two 
pounds and about an inch thick; pound until 
thin, season with salt and Cayenne pepper, cover 
with a layer of bacon or salt pork, cut into thin 
slices, roll and tie with a cord. Pour around it 
half a cupful of milk and half a cupful of water. 
Place in a covered baking dish and cook two 
hours, basting occasionally. 

CHOPPED MEAT 

Chopping meat is one of the principal 
methods of making tough and inexpensive 
meat tender, i. e., dividing it finely and 
thus cutting the connective tissue into 
small bits. Such meats have another ad- 
vantage in that they may be cooked quick- 
ly and economically. 

Chopped raw meat of almost any kind can be 
very quickly made into a savory dish by cook- 
ing it with water or with water and milk for 



MEAT DISHES 15» 

a short time, then thickening with butter and 
flour, and adding different seasonings as relished, 
either pepper and salt alone, or onion juice, cel- 
ery, or tomato. Such a dish may be made to 
"go further" by serving it on toast or with a bor- 
der of rice or in some similar combination. 

SAVORY ROLLS 

Savory rolls in great variety are made out of 
chopped meat either with or without egg. The 
variety is secured by the flavoring materials used 
and by the sauces with which the baked rolls are 
served. A few recipes will be given below. 
While these definite directions are given it 
should be remembered that a few general princi- 
ples borne in mind make recipes unnecessary and 
make it possible to utilize whatever may happen 
to be on hand. Appetizing rolls are made with 
beef and pork mixed. The proportion varies 
from two parts of beef and one of pork to two 
of pork and one of beef. The rolls are always im- 
proved by laying thin slices of salt pork or ba- 
con over them, which keep the surface mois- 
tened with fat during the roasting. These slices 
should be scored on the edge, so that they will 
not curl up in cooking. The necessity for the 
salt pork is greater when the chopped meat is 
chiefly beef than when it is largely pork or 
veal. Bread crumbs or bread moistened in water 
can always be added, as it helps to make the 
dish go farther. When onions, green peppers, 
or other vegetables are used, they should always 
be thoroughly cooked in fat before being put 
in the roll, for usually they do not cook suffi- 
ciently in the length of time it takes to cook 
the meat. Sausage makes a good addition to 
the roll, but it is usually cheaper to use unsea- 
soned pork meat with the addition of a little sage. 



160 MEAT DISHEH 

DEVELOPING FLAVOR OF MEAT 

The typical meat flavors are very palat- 
able to most persons, even when they are 
constantly tasted, and consequently the 
better cuts of meat in which they are well 
developed can be cooked and served with- 
out attention being paid especially to fla- 
vor. Careful cooking aids in developing 
the natural flavor of some of the cheaper 
cuts, and such a result is to be sought 
wherever it is possible. Browning also 
brings out flavors agreeable to most pal- 
ates. Aside from these two ways of in- 
creasing the flavor of the meat itself there 
are countless ways of adding flavor to 
otherwise rather tasteless meats. The 
flavors may be added in preparing the meat 
for cooking, as in various seasoned dishes 
already described, or they may be supplied 
to cook meat in the form of sauces. 

RETAINING NATURAL FLAVOR 

As has already been pointed out, it is ex- 
tremely difficult to retain the flavor-giving 
extractives in a piece of meat so tough as 
to require prolonged cooking. It is some- 
times partially accomplished by first sear- 
ing the exterior of the meat and thus pre- 
venting the escape of the juices. Another 
device, illustrated by the following recipe, 



MEAT DISHES 161 

is to let them escape into the gravy which 
is served with the meat itself. A similar 
principle is applied when roasts are basted 
with their own juice. 

ROUND STEAK ON BISCUITS 

Cut round steak into pieces about one-half 
inch square, cover with water and cook it at a 
temperature just below the boiling point until it 
is tender, or boil for five minutes, and while still 
hot put into the fireless cooker and leave it for 
five hours. Thicken the gravy with flour mixed 
with water, allowing two level tablespoonfuls to 
a cup of water. Pour the meat and gravy over 
split baking-powder biscuits so baked that they 
have a large amount of crust. 

FLAVOR OF BROWNED MEAT OR FAT 

Next to the unchang-ed flavor of the 
meat itself comes the flavor which is se- 
cured by browning the meat with fat. The 
outside slices of roast meat have this 
browned flavor in marked degree. Ex- 
cept in the case of roasts, browning for 
flavor is usually accomplished by heating 
the meat in a frying pan in fat which has 
been tried out of pork or in suet or but- 
ter. Care should be taken that the fat 
is not scorched. The chief reason for the 
bad opinion in which fried food is held by 
many is that it almost always means eat- 
ing burned fat. When fat is heated too 
high it splits up into fatty acids and glyce- 



163 MEAT DISHES 

rin, and from the glycerin is formed a sub- 
stance (acrolein) which has a very irritat- 
ing effect upon the mucous membrane. All 
will recall that the fumes of scorched fat 
make the eyes water. It is not surpris- 
ing that such a substance, if taken into the 
stomach, should cause digestive disturb- 
ance. Fat in itself is a very valuable food, 
and the objection to fried foods because 
they may be fat seems illogical. If they 
supply burned fat there is a good reason 
for suspicion. Many housekeepers cook 
bacon in the oven on a wire broiler over a 
pan and believe it more wholesome than 
fried bacon. The reason, of course, is that 
thus cooked in the oven there is less chance 
for the bacon becoming impregnated with 
burned fat. Where fried salt pork is much 
used good cooks know that it must not be 
cooked over a very hot fire, even if they 
have never heard of the chemistry of 
burned fat. The recipe for bean-pot roast 
and other similar recipes may be varied by 
browning the meat or part of it before cov- 
ering with water. This results in keeping 
some of the natural flavoring within the 
meat itself and allowing less to go into the 
gravy. The flavor of veal can be very 
greatly improved in this way. 

The following old-fashioned dishes made 
with pork owe their savoriness chiefly to 
the flavor of browned fat or meat : 



MEAT DISHES 163 



SALT PORK WITH MILK GRAVY 

Cut salt or cured pork into thin slices. If 
very salt, cover with hot water and allow it tO' 
stand for ten minutes. Score the rind of the 
slices and fry slowly until they are a golden 
brown. Make a milk gravy by heating flour in 
the fat that has been tried out, allowing two 
tablespoonfuls of fat and two tablespoonfuls of 
flour to each cup of milk. This is a good way 
to use skim milk, which is as rich in protein as 
whole milk. The pork and milk gravy served 
with boiled or baked potatoes makes a cheap 
and simple meal, but one that most people like 
very much. Bacon is often used in place of 
salt pork in making this dish. 

"salt-fish dinner'' 

3^2 pound salt pork. 

1 pound codfish. 

2 cups of milk (skim milk will do). 
4 tablespoonfuls flour. 

A speck of salt. 

Cut the codfish into strips, soak in lukewarm 
water and then cook in water until tender, but 
do not allow the water to come to the boiling 
point except for a very short time as prolonged 
boiling may make it tough. Cut the pork into 
one-fourth inch slices and cut several gashes in- 
each piece. Fry very slowly until golden brown, 
and remove, pouring off the fat. Out of four 
tablespoonfuls of the fat, the flour, and the milk 
make a white sauce. Dish up the codfish with 
pieces of pork around it and serve with boiled 
potatoes and beets. Some persons serve the 
pork, and the fat from it, in a gravy boat so it 
can be added as relished. 



164 MEAT DISHES 



SAUCES 

The art of preparing savory gravies and 
sauces is more important in connection 
with the serving of the cheaper meats than 
in connection with the cooking of the more 
expensive. 

There are a few general principles un- 
derlying the makiixr of all sauces or 
gravies whether the liquid used is water, 
milk, stock, tomato juice, or some com- 
bination of these. For ordinary gravy 2 
level tablespoonfuls of flour or ly^ table- 
spoonfuls of cornstarch or arrow root is 
sufficient to thicken a cupful of liquid. 
This is true excepting when, as in the 
recipe on page 23 the flour is browned. 
In this case about one-half tablespoonful 
more should be allowed, for browned flour 
does not thicken so well as unbrowned. 
The fat used may be butter or the drip- 
pings from the meat, the allowance being 
2 tablespoonfuls to a cup of liquid. 

The easiest way to mix the ingredients 
is to heat the fat, add the flour, and cook 
until the mixture ceases to bubble, and 
then to add the liquid. This is a quick 
method and by using it there is little dan- 
ger of getting a lumpy gravy. Many per- 
sons, however, think it is not a wholesome 
method and prefer the old-fashioned one 



MEAT DISHES 165 

of thickening the gravy by means of ilour 
mixed with a Httle cold water. The latter 
method is, of course, not practicable for 
brown gravies. 

The good flavor of browned flour is of- 
ten overlooked. If flour is cooked in fat 
until it is a dark brown color a distinctive 
and very agreeable flavor is obtained. This 
flavor combines very well with that of cur- 
rant jelly, and a little jelly added to a 
brown gravy is a great improvement. The 
flavor of this should not be combined with 
that of onions or other highly flavored 
vegetables. A recipe for a dish which is 
made with brown sauce follows : 

MOCK VENISON 

Cut cold mutton into thin slices and heat in a 
brown sauce, made according to the following 
proportions : 

2 tablespoonfuls butter. 

2 tablespoonfuls flour. 

I tablespoonful of bottled meat sauce (which- 
ever is preferred). 

I tablespoonful red-currant jelly. 

I cupful water or stock. 

Brown the flour in the butter, add the water 
or stock slowly, and keep stirring. Then add the 
jelly and meat sauce and let the mixture boil up 
well. 



CHAPTER XV 

HOUSEHOLD RECIPES. 

(Arranged Alphabetically) 

"The woman's work for her own home 
is to secure its order, comfort, and loveli- 
ness/' — John Ruskin — Sesame and Lilies. 

The following recipes are tried and ap- 
proved ones, useful for housecleaning, 
laundry work, etc. In a number of in- 
stances they give instruction in the mak- 
ing of commodities, such as soap, which 
are usually purchased in the stores, but 
which, if made at home will cost less 
money, and be of better quality. They 
are arranged alphabetically for ease of ref- 
erence : 

ANTS TO GET RID OF 

Wash the shelves with salt and water; 
sprinkle salt in their paths. To keep them 
out of safes, set the legs of the safe on 
tin cups ; keep the cups filled with water. 

166 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 167 



BARRELS — TO CLEAN 

The ordinary way of washing a barrel 
is with boihng water, and when cool ex- 
amining it with a light inside. If there be 
any sour or musty smell, however, lime 
must be used to remove it. Break the lime 
into lumps, and put it in the cask dry (it 
will take from 3 to 4 lbs. for each cask), 
then pour in as many gallons of boiling 
water as there are pounds of lime, and 
bung. Roll the cask about now and then, 
and after a few hours wash it out, steam it, 
and let it cool. 

BED-BUGS — TO KILL 

For bed-bugs nothing is so good as the 
white of eggs and quicksilver. A thimble- 
ful of quicksilver to the white of each egg; 
heat until well mixed ; apply with a feather. 

FEATHER-BEDS — TO CLEANSE WITHOUT 
EMPTYING 

On a hot, clear summer day, lay the 
bed upon a scaffold ; wash it well with 
soap-suds upon both sides, rubbing it 
hard with a stiff brush ; pour several gal- 
lons of hot water upon the bed slowly, and 
let it drip through. Rinse with clear water ; 



168 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

remove it to a dry part of the scaffold to 
dry ; beat, and turn it two or three times 
during the day. Sun until perfectly dry. 
The feathers may be emptied in barrels, 
washed in soap-suds, and rinsed ; then 
spread in an unoccupied room and dried, 
or put in bags made of thin sleazy cloth, 
and kept in the sun until dry. The quality 
of feathers can be much improved by at- 
tention of this kind. 

CLOTHES — TO BLEACH 

Dissolve a handful of refined borax in 
ten gallons of water ; boil the clothes in it. 
To whiten brown cloth, boil in weak lye, 
and expose day and night to the sun and 
night air; keep the clothes well sprinkled. 

BOOKS — TO KEEP MICE FROM 

Sprinkle a little Cayenne pepper in the 
cracks at the back of the shelves of the 
bookcase. 

BOARDS TO SCOUR 

Mix in a saucer three parts of fine sand 
and one part of lime; dip the scrubbing- 
brush into this and use it instead of soap. 
This will remove grease and whiten the 
boards, while at the same time it will de- 
stroy all insects. The boards should be 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 169 

well rinsed with clean water. If they are 
very greasy, they should be well covered 
over in places with a coating of fuller's 
earth moistened with boiling water, which 
should be left on 24 hours before they are 
scoured as above directed. In washing 
boards never rub crosswise, but always 
with the grain. 

BOOKS — TO PRESERVE FROM DAMP 

A few drops of strong perfumed oil, 
sprinkled in the bookcase will preserve 
books from damp and mildew. 

BOOKS — TO CLEAN 

Books may be cleaned with a little dry 
bread crumbled up and rubbed gently, but 
firmly, over with the open hand. Cloth 
covers may be washed with a sponge dipped 
in a mixture made from the white of an 
egg beaten to a stiff froth and afterwards 
allowed to settle. To clean grease marks 
from books, dampen the marks with a little 
benzine, place a piece of blotting-paper on 
each side of the page, and pass a hot iron 
over the top. 

BRASS — TO CLEAN 

Dissolve I oz. of oxalic acid in one pint 
of soft water. Rub it on the brass with a 



170 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

piece of flannel, and polish with another dry 
piece. This solution should be kept in a 
bottle labelled "poison," and the bottle well 
shaken before it is used, which should be 
only occasionally, for in a general way the 
brass should be cleaned with pulverized rot- 
tenstone, mixed into a liquid state with oil 
of turpentine. Rub this on with a piece of 
soft leather, leave for a few minutes ; then 
wipe it off with a soft cloth. Brass treated 
generally with the latter, and occasionally 
with the former mode of cleaning will look 
most beautiful. A very good general pol- 
ish for brass may be made of ^ a lb. of 
rottenstone and i oz. of oxalic acid, with 
as much water as will make it into a stiff 
paste. Set this paste on a plate in a cool 
oven to dry, pound it very fine, and apply 
a little of the powder, moistened with sweet 
oil, to the brass with a piece of leather, 
polishing with another leather or an old 
silk handkerchief. This powder should 
also be labelled ''poison." 

BRITANNIA METAL — TO CLEAN 

Articles made of what is usually called 
Britannia metal may be kept in order by the 
frequent use of the following composition : 
yz a lb. of finely-powdered whiting, a wine- 
glass of sweet oil, a tablespoonful of soft 
soap, and 3^ an oz. of yellow soap melted 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 171 

in water. Add to these in mixing suffi- 
cient spirits — gin or spirits of wine — to 
make the compound the consistency of 
cream. This cream should be appHed with 
a sponge or soft flannel, wiped off with 
soft linen rags, and the article well polished 
with a leather ; or they may be cleaned with 
only oil and soap in the following manner : 
Rub the articles with sweet oil on a piece 
of woolen cloth; then wash well with strong 
soap-and-water ; rub them dry, and polish 
with a soft leather and whiting. The pol- 
ish thus given will last for a long time. 

BRUSHES — TO WASH 

Dissolve a piece of soda in some hot wat- 
er, allowing a piece the size of a walnut to 
a quart of water. Put the water into a 
basin, and, after combing out the hair from 
the brushes, dip them, bristles downward, 
into the water and out again, keeping the 
backs and handles as free from the water 
as possible. Repeat this until the bristles 
look clean; then rinse the brushes in a little 
cold water ; shake them well, and wipe the 
handles and backs with a towel, but not the 
bristles, and set the brushes to dry in the 
sun, or near the fire; but take care not 
to put them too close to it. Wiping the 
bristles of a brush makes them soft, as does 
also the use of soap. 



172 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

CARPETS TO CLEAN 

Shake the carpet well ; tack it down, and 
wash it upon the floor ; the floor should be 
very clean ; use cold soap suds ; to three 
gallons add half a tumbler of beef-gall ; 
this will prevent the colors from fading. 
Should there be grease spots, apply a mix- 
ture of beef-gall, fuller's-earth, and water 
enough to form a paste; put this on before 
tacking the carpet down. Use tacks in- 
serted in small leather caps. Carpets in 
bedrooms and stair-carpets may be kept 
clean by being brushed with a soft hair- 
brush frequently, and, as occasion requires, 
being taken up and shaken. Larger car- 
pets should be swept carefully with a whisk- 
brush or hand-brush of hair, which is far 
better, especially in the case of fine-piled 
carpets. Thick carpets, as Axminster and 
Turkey, should always be brushed one way. 

CARPETS — TO LAY 

This can hardly be well done without the 
aid of a proper carpet-fork or stretcher. 
Work the carpet the length way of the ma- 
terial, which ought to be made up the 
length way of the room. Nail sides as you 
go along, until you are quite sure that the 
carpet is fully stretched, and that there is 
no fold anywhere in the length of it. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 173 



STAIR-CARPET TO CLEAN 

Make stair-carpet longer than necessary, 
and change it so that it will not cover the 
steps in the same way each time of putting 
down. Moved about in this way, the car- 
pet will last much longer. Clean the rods 
with oxalic acid. They should be kept 
bright. 

CHIMNEY ON FIRE 

Close all doors and windows tightly, and 
hold a wet blanket in front of the fire to 
prevent any draught going up the chimney. 

CHINA OR GLASS TO WASH 

Wash in plenty of hot soap suds ; have 
two vessels, and in one rinse in hot water. 
Turn upon waiters, and let the articles drip 
before being wiped. Use linen towels for 
wiping. 

CHINA AND GLASS CEMENT FOR 

Dissolve I oz. of gum-mastic in a quan- 
tity of highly-rectified spirits of wine ; then 
soften I oz. of isinglass in warm water, and, 
finally, dissolve it in alcohol, till it forms 
a thick jelly. Mix the isinglass and gum- 
mastic together, adding ^ of an oz. of 



176 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

CLOTHES TO REMOVE SPOTS AND STAINS 

FROM 

To remove grease-spots from cotton or 
woolen materials, absorbent pastes, and 
even common soap, are used, applied to the 
spot when dry. When the colors are not fast, 
place a layer of fuller's-earth or pulverized 
potter's clay over the spot, and press with a 
very hot iron. For silks, moires and plain 
or brocaded satins, pour two drops of recti- 
fied spirits of wine over the spot, cover 
with a linen cloth, and press with a hot 
iron, changing the linen instantly. The 
spot will look tarnished, for a portion of 
the grease still remains ; this will be re- 
moved entirely by a little sulphuric ether, 
dropped on the spot, and a very little rub- 
bing. If neatly done, no perceptible mark 
or circle will remain ; nor will the lustre 
of the richest silk be changed, the union 
of the two liquids operating with no in- 
jurious effects from rubbing. Eau-de-Co- 
logne will also remove grease from cloth 
and silk. Fruit-spots are removed from 
white and fast-colored cottons by the use 
of chloride of soda. Commence by cold- 
soaping the article, then touch the spot with 
a hair-pencil or feather dipped in the chlo- 
ride, and dip immediately into cold water, 
to prevent the texture of the article being 
injured. Fresh ink-spots are removed by 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES ITT 

a few drops of hot water being poured on 
immediately after applying the chloride of 
soda. By the same process, iron-mould in 
linen or calico may be removed, dipping 
immediately in cold water to prevent in- 
jury to the fabric. Wax dropped on a 
shawl, table-cover, or cloth dress, is easily 
discharged by applying spirits of wine ; 
syrups or preserved fruits, by washing in 
lukewarm water with a dry cloth, and 
pressing the spot between two folds of 
clean linen. 

CRAPE — TO RENOVATE 

Place a little water in a tea-kettle and let 
it boil until there is plenty of steam from 
the spout; then, holding the crape with 
both hands, pass it to and fro several times 
through the steam, and it will be clean and 
look nearly equal to new. 

COMBS — TO CLEAN 

If it can be avoided, never wash combs, 
as the water often makes the teeth split, 
and the tortoise-shell or horn of which 
they are made, rough. Small brushes, man- 
ufactured purposely for cleaning combs, 
may be purchased at a trifling cost ; the 
comb should be well brushed, and after- 
wards wiped with a cloth or towel. 



178 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 



CUPBOARDS, DAMP TO DRY 

Leave a quantity of quicklime in the cup- 
board for a few days, and the moisture will 
be entirely absorbed. 

EGGS — TO PACK 

Put into a butter firkin a thick layer of 
coarse dry salt, then a layer of eggs, with 
the small end down, another layer of salt, 
then eggs, and so on until the firkin is full. 
Cover and keep in a dry place. These eggs 
will keep put up in this way almost any 
length of time. 

COAL-FIRE — TO LIGHT 

Clear out all ash from the grate and lay 
a few cinders or small pieces of coal at 
the bottom in open order; over this a few 
pieces of paper, and over that again eight 
or ten pieces of dry wood ; over the wood, 
a course of moderate-sized pieces of coal, 
taking care to leave hollow spaces between 
for air at the center ; and taking care to lay 
the whole well back in the grate, so that 
the smoke may go up the chimney, and not 
into the room. This done, fire the paper 
with a match from below, and, if properly 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 179 

laid, it will soon burn up ; the stream of 
flame from the wood and paper soon com- 
municating to the coal and cinders, pro- 
vided there is plenty of air at the center. 

Another method of lighting a fire is 
sometimes practiced with advantage, the 
fire lighting from the top and burning 
down, in place of being lighted and burn- 
ing up from below. This is arranged by 
laying the coals at the bottom, mixed with 
a few good-sized cinders, and the wood at 
the top, with another layer of coals and 
some paper over it ; the paper is lighted in 
the usual way, and soon burns down to a 
good fire, with some economy of fuel, it is 
said. 

FEATHERS TO CLEAN 

Cover the feathers with a paste made of 
pipe-clay, and water, rubbing them one way 
only. When quite dry, shake off all the 
powder and curl with a knife. 

FLANNEL — TO WASH 

Never rub soap upon it ; make suds by 
dissolving the soap in warm water; rinse 
in warm water. Very cold or hot water 
will shrink flannel. Shake them out sev- 
eral minutes before hanging to dry. Blan- 
kets are washed in the same way. 



178 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 



CUPBOARDS, DAMP TO DRY 

Leave a quantity of quicklime in the cup- 
board for a few days, and the moisture will 
be entirely absorbed. 

EGGS — TO PACK 

Put into a butter firkin a thick layer of 
coarse dry salt, then a layer of eggs, with 
the small end down, another layer of salt, 
then eggs, and so on until the firkin is full. 
Cover and keep in a dry place. These eggs 
will keep put up in this way almost any 
length of time. 

COAL-FIRE — TO LIGHT 

Clear out all ash from the grate and lay 
a few cinders or small pieces of coal at 
the bottom in open order; over this a few 
pieces of paper, and over that again eight 
or ten pieces of dry wood ; over the wood, 
a course of moderate-sized pieces of coal, 
taking care to leave hollow spaces between 
for air at the center ; and taking care to lay 
the whole well back in the grate, so that 
the smoke may go up the chimney, and not 
into the room. This done, fire the paper 
with a match from below, and, if properly 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 179 

laid, it will soon burn up ; the stream of 
flame from the wood and paper soon com- 
municating to the coal and cinders, pro- 
vided there is plenty of air at the center. 

Another method of lighting a fire is 
sometimes practiced with advantage, the 
fire lighting from the top and burning 
down, in place of being lighted and burn- 
ing up from below. This is arranged by 
laying the coals at the bottom, mixed with 
a few good-sized cinders, and the wood at 
the top, with another layer of coals and 
some paper over it ; the paper is lighted in 
the usual way, and soon burns down to a 
good fire, with some economy of fuel, it is 
said. 

FEATHERS TO CLEAN 

Cover the feathers with a paste made of 
pipe-clay, and water, rubbing them one way 
only. When quite dry, shake oiT all the 
powder and curl with a knife. 

FLANNEL — TO WASH 

Never rub soap upon it ; make suds by 
dissolving the soap in warm water; rinse 
in warm water. Very cold or hot water 
will shrink flannel. Shake them out sev- 
eral minutes before hanging to dry. Blan- 
kets are washed in the same way. 



180 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 



FLEAS TO DRIVE AWAY 

Use pennyroyal or walnut leaves. Scat- 
ter them profusely in all infested places. 

FLIES TO DESTROY 

A mixture of cream, sugar, and ground 
black pepper, in equal quantities, placed in 
saucers in a room infested with flies will 
destroy them. If a small quantity, say the 
equivalent of a teaspoonful of carbolic acid 
be poured on a hot shovel, it will drive the 
flies from the room. But screens should 
be used to prevent their entrance. 

STEEL-FORKS TO CLEAN 

Have a small box filled with clean sand ; 
mix with it a third the quantity of soft 
soap ; clean the forks by sticking in the 
sand and withdrawing them rapidly, repeat- 
ing the process until they are bright. 

CUT-FLOWERS — TO PRESERVE 

A bouquet of freshly-cut flowers may be 
preserved alive for a long time by placing 
them in a glass or vase with fresh water, 
in which a little charcoal has been steeped, 
or a small piece of camphor dissolved. The 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 181 

vase should be set upon a plate or dish, and 
covered with a bell glass, around the edges 
of which, when it comes in contact with the 
plate, a little water should be poured to 
exclude the air. To revive cut flowers, 
plunge the stems into boiling water, and by 
the time the water is cold, the flowers will 
have revived. Then cut the ends of the 
stems afresh, and place in fresh cold 
water. 

FRUIT STAINS — TO REMOVE 

Pour hot water on the spots ; wet with 
ammonia or oxalic acid — a teaspoonful to 
a teacup of water. 

FRUIT-TREES — TO PREVENT DEPREDATIONS OF 

To preserve apple and other fruit trees 
from the depredations of rabbits, etc., and 
the ravages of insects, apply soft soap to 
the trunk and branches in March and Sep- 
tember. 

FURNITURE GLOSS GERMAN 

Cut ^ of a lb. of yellow wax into small 
pieces and melt it in an earthen vessel, 
with I oz. of black rosin, pounded very 
fine. Stir in gradually, while these two 
ingredients are quite warm, 2 ozs. of oil 
of turpentine. Keep this composition well 



182 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

•covered for use in a tin or earthen pot. A 
little of this gloss should be spread on a 
piece of coarse woolen cloth, and the fur- 
niture well rubbed with it; afterward it 
should be polished with a fine cloth. 

FURNITURE POLISH 

One pint of linseed oil, one wineglass of 
alcohol. Mix well together. Apply to the 
furniture with a fine rag. Rub dry with a 
soft cotton cloth, and polish with a silk 
<cloth. Furniture is improved by washing it 
occasionally with soap-suds. Wipe dry, and 
rub over with very little linseed oil upon 
a clean sponge or flannel. Wipe polished 
furniture with silk. Separate dusting-cloths 
and brushes should be kept for highly pol- 
ished furniture. When sweeping carpets 
and dusting walls always cover the furni- 
ture until the particles of dust floating in 
the air settle, then remove the covers, and 
wipe with a silk or soft cotton cloth, 

FURNITURE STAINS — TO REMOVE 

Rub stains on furniture with cold-drawn 
linseed oil ; then rub with alcohol. Re- 
move ink stains with oxalic acid and water ; 
Avash ofif with milk. A hot iron held over 
stains upon furniture will sometimes re- 
move them. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 183 



FURS — TO CLEAN 

Moisten some bran with hot water; rub 
the fur with it, and dry with a flannel. 
Then rub with a piece of muslin and some 
dry bran. 

GAS TO DETECT A LEAK 

Never take a light into the room or look 
for the leak with a light. Soap and water 
mixed, and applied with a brush to the pipe 
will commence to bubble if there is a leak. 
Send for the plumber at once. 

GLASS — TO WASH 

Great care is required in washing glasses. 
Two perfectly clean bowls are necessary — 
one for moderately hot and another for 
cold water. Wash the glasses well in the 
first, rinse them in the second, and turn 
them down on a linen cloth folded two or 
three times, to drain for a few minutes. 
When sufficiently drained, wipe with a cloth 
and polish with a finer one, doing so ten- 
derly and carefully. 

Decanters and water-jugs require very 
tender treatment in cleaning. Fill about 
two-thirds with hot but not boiling water, 
and put in a few pieces of well-soaked 



184 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES \ 

brown paper ; leave them thus for two or 
three hours ; then shake the water up and 
down in the decanters ; empty this out, rinse 
them well with clean, cold water, and put 
them in a rack to drain. When dry, polish 
them outside and inside, as far as possible, 
with a fine cloth. Fine shot or pieces of 
charcoal placed in a decanter with warmi 
water and shaken for some time, will also 
remove stains. When this is not effective, 
fill the bottle with finely chopped potato 
skins. Cork tight, and let the bottle stand 
for three days. Empty and rinse thor- 
oughly. 

GLASS STOPPER — TO REMOVE 

Wrap a both cloth around the neck of 
the bottle, thus expanding it, or, if this 
is not effective, pour a little salad oil round 
the stopper, and place the bottle near the 
fire, then tap the stopper with a wooden in- 
strument. The heat will cause the oil to 
work round the stopper, and it should be 
easily removed. 

GREASE — TO REMOVE FROM A STONE 
HEARTH 

Lay plenty of hot ashes; wash off (after 
the grease is out) with strong soap suds. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 185 



HARNESS BLACKING — FOR PRESERVING THE 
LEATHER 

Melt four ounces of mutton suet with 
twelve ounces of beeswax; add twelve 
ounces of sugar-candy, four ounces of soft 
soap dissolved in water, and two ounces of 
indigo, finely powdered. When melted and 
well mixed, add one-half pint of turpentine. 
Lay the blacking on the harness with a 
sponge, and polish off with a brush. 

FELT-HATS — TO RENOVATE 

Mix equal quantities of benzine and 
water, and after well brushing the hat, ap- 
ply the mixture with a sponge. 

HERBS TO DRY 

The right way in drying herbs for your 
kitchen and possible medicinal use is to 
gather them as soon as they begin to open 
their flowers, and to lay them on some 
netting in a dry shed or room where the air 
will get at them on all sides. Be sure they 
are dry and not moist when you cut or pick 
them, and free them from dirt and decayed 
leaves. After they are entirely dried out, 
put them in paper bags upon which you 



1S6 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

have written the name of the herb and the 
date of tying- it np. Hang them where the 
air is dry and there is no chance of their 
moulding:. 



SAVORY HERBS — TO TOWDER 

Strip the leaves from the stalks, pound, 
sift out the coarse pieces, put the powder 
in bottles, and cork tight. Label with ex- 
actness every bottle. If. for the conven- 
ience of instant use in gravies, soups, etc., 
you wish ditYerent herbs mixed, pound the 
leaves together when you make them into 
powders. Celery seed, dried lemon-peel, 
and other spicy things can thus be com- 
bined and ready for the moment's call. 

ICE VAULT TO MAKE 

Dig a pit eight or ten feet square, and as 
deep in the cellar. Lay a double wall with 
brick ; fill between with pulverized char- 
coal ; cover the bottom also double with 
the same or tan-bark. If the pit is filled 
with ice, or nearly so, cover six inches with 
tan-bark ; but if only a small quantity is in 
it, wrap well in a blanket, and over the 
opening in the pit lay a double bag of char- 
coal. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 18T 

INK — TO REMOVE FROM LINEN 

Scald in hot tallow. Let it cool ; then 
wash in warm suds. Sometimes these 
stains can be removed by wettin^^ the place 
in very sour buttermilk or lemon juice; 
rub salt over, and bleach in the sun. 

INSECTS — TO KEEP AWAY 

The common elder is a great safeguard 
against the devastations of insects. Scat- 
ter it around cucumber and squash-vines. 
Place it on the branches of plum and other 
fruit-trees subject to the ravages of insects. 

IRONS TO REMOVE RUST FROM 

Scour with dry salt and beeswax. 

JAPANNED WARE TO CLEAN 

Japanned tea-trays should not be washed 
in hot water if greasy, a little flour rubbed 
on with a bit of soft linen will give them 
a new look ; if there are scratches, rub 
over a little olive oil. 

JEWELRY TO CLEAN 

Jewels are generally wrapped up in cot- 
ton wool and kept in their cases; but they 



188 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

tarnish from exposure to the air and re- 
quire cleaning. This is done by preparing 
clean soap-suds from fine toilet-soap. Dip 
any article of gold, silver, gilt or precious 
stones into this lye, and dry by brushing 
with a brush of soft hair, or a fine sponge ; 
afterwards polish with a piece of fine cloth, 
and lastly, with a soft leather. 

Gold or silver ornaments, and in general 
all articles of jewelry, may be dressed by 
dipping them in spirits of wine warmed 
in a shallow kettle, placed over a slow fire 
or hot plate. Silver ornaments should be 
kept in fine arrowroot, and completely cov- 
ered with it. 

KNIVES TO CLEAN 

Cover a small heavy table on block by 
tacking over it very tight soft leather or 
buckskin ; pour over half the leather melted 
suet. Spread over this very fine pulverized 
bath brick; rub the knives (making rapid 
strokes) over this. Polish on the other 
side. Keep steel wrapped in buckskin. 
Knives should be cleaned every day they 
are used, and kept sharp. The handles of 
knives should never be immersed in water, 
as, after a time, if treated in this way, the 
blades will loosen and the handles discolor. 
The blades should be put in a jug or ves- 
sel kept for the purpose, filled with hot soda 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 189 

water. This should be done as soon after 
the knives are used as possible, as stain 
and rust quickly sink into steel. 

KNIVES TO KEEP 

Knives not in use will soon spoil. They 
are best kept in a box in which sifted quick- 
lime has been placed, deep enough to ad- 
mit of the blades being completely plunged 
into it. The lime must not touch the han- 
dles, which should be occasionally exposed 
to the air, to keep them from turning yel- 
low. 

BLACK LACE TO REVIVE 

Make some black tea, about the strength 
usual for drinking, and strain it off the 
leaves. Pour enough tea into a basin to 
cover the material, then squeeze the lace 
several times, but do not rub it. Dip it 
frequently into the tea, which will at length 
assume a dirty appearance. Have ready 
some weak gum-water and press the lace 
gently through it ; then clap it for a quarter 
of an hour ; after which, pin it to a towel 
in any shape which you wish it to take. 
When nearly dry, cover it with another 
towel and iron it with a cool iron. The 
lace, if previously sound and discolored 
only, will, after this process, look as good 
as new. 



190 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 



LAMPS TO TRIM 

In trimming lamps, let the wick be cut 
evenly all round ; as, if left higher in one 
place than it is in another, it will cause it 
to smoke and burn badly. The lamp should 
then be filled with oil from a feeder and 
afterward well wiped with a cloth or rag. 
Small sticks, covered with wash-leather 
pads, are the best things to use for cleaning 
the inside of the chimney, and a clean dus- 
ter for polishing the outside. Chimneys 
should not be washed. The globe of a lamp 
should be occasionally washed in warm 
soap-and-water, then well rinsed in cold 
water, and either wiped dry or left to 
drain. 

LEATHER TO CLEAN 

For fawn or yellow-colored leather, take 
a quart of skimmed milk, pour into it one 
ounce of sulphuric acid, and, when cold, 
add four ounces of hydrochloric acid, shak- 
ing the bottle gently until it ceases to emit 
wdiite vapors ; separate the coagulated from 
the liquid part, by straining through a sieve, 
and store it away till required. Clean the 
leather with a weak solution of oxalic acid, 
washing it off immediately, and when dry 
apply the composition with a sponge. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 191 



TABLE LINEN CARE OF 

Table-cloths, towels and napkins should 
be kept faultlessly white ; table-cloths and 
napkins starched ; if the latter are fringed, 
whip the fringe until straight. After using 
a table-cloth, lay it in the same folds ; put 
it in a close place where dust will not reach 
it, and lay a heavy weight upon it. 

Napkins may be used the second time, if 
they are so marked that each person gets 
the napkin previously used. 

LINEN TO GLAZE 

The gloss, or enamel, as it is sometimes 
called, is produced mainly by friction with 
a warm iron, and may be put on linen by 
almost any person. The linen to be glazed 
receives as much strong starch as it is pos- 
sible to charge it with, then it is dried. To 
each pound of starch a piece of sperm or 
white wax, about the size of a walnut, is 
usually added. When ready to be ironed, 
the linen is laid upon the table and moist- 
ened very lightly on the surface with a 
clean wet cloth. It is then ironed in the 
usual way with a flatiron, and is ready for 
the glossing operation. For this purpose 
a peculiar heavy flatiron, rounded at the 
bottom, as bright as a mirror, is used. It 



192 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

is pressed firmly upon the linen and rubbed 
with much force, and this frictional action 
puts on the gloss. ''Elbow grease" is the 
principal secret connected with the art of 
glossing linen. 

MACKINTOSH TO REPAIR 

Shred finely some pure india-rubber, and 
-dissolve it in naphtha to the consistency of 
a stifif paste. Apply the cement to each 
side of the part to be joined, and leave a 
cold iron upon it until dry. 

LINEN TO REMOVE IRON MOULD FROM 

Oxalic acid and hot water will remove 
iron-mould ; so also will common sorrel, 
bruised in a mortar and rubbed on the 
spots. In both cases the linen should be 
well washed after the remedy has been ap- 
plied, either in clear water or a strong so- 
lution of cream of tartar and water. Re- 
peat if necessary, and dry in the sun. 

MAHOGANY TO TAKE OUT MARKS FROM 

The whitest stain, left on a mahogany 
table by a jug of boiling water, or a very 
hot dish, may be removed by rubbing in 
oil, and afterward pouring a little spirits 
of wine on the spot and rubbing with a soft 
cloth. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 193 

MARBLE TO CLEAN 

Wash with soda, water, and beef-gall. 
Or mix together one part blue-stone, three 
parts whiting, one part soda, and three 
parts soft soap ; boil together ten minutes ; 
stir constantly. Spread this over the mar- 
ble ; let it lie half an hour ; wash it off 
with soap-suds ; wipe dry with flannel. Re- 
peat if necessary. Stains that cannot be 
removed in any other way may be tried 
with oxalic acid water; but this should be 
used carefully, and not allowed to remain 
long at a time. 

MATTING TO WASH 

Use salt in the water, and wipe dry. 

MILDEW TO REMOVE 

When the clothes are washed and ready to 
boil, pin jimson weed leaves upon the 
place. Put a handful of the leaves on the 
bottom of the kettle ; lay the stained part 
next to them. Green tomatoes and salt, 
sour buttermilk, lemon juice, soap and 
chalk, are all good ; expose to the sun. 

Another way: Two ounces of chloride 
of lime ; pour on it a quarter of boiling 
water ; add three quarts of cold water. 
Steep the cloth in it twelve hours. 



194 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 
MIRRORS TO CLEAN 

Remove, with a damp sponge, fly stains 
and otlier soils (the spong^e may be damped 
with water or spirits of wine). After this 
dr.st the surface with the finest sifted whit- 
ing- or powder-bhic, and poHsh it with a 
silk handkerchief or soft cloth. Sniilt of 
candle, if quite free from grease, is an ex- 
cellent polish for the looking-glass. 

MOTHS — TO PREVENT THEM GETTING INTO 
CARPETS, ETC. 

Strew camphor under a carpet; pack with 
woolen goods. If moths are in a carpet, 
lay over it a cotton or linen cloth, and iron 
with a hot iron. Oil all cracks in store- 
rooms, closets, safes, with turpentine, or a 
mixture of alcohol and corrosive subli- 
mate ; this drives oil vermin. 

Place pieces of camphor, cedar-wood, 
Russia leather, tobacco-leaves, boy-myrtle, 
or anything else strongly aromatic, in the 
drawers or boxes where furs or other 
things to be preserved from moths are kept, 
and they will never take harm. 

OIL-CLOTII OR LINOLEUM TO WASH 

Take equal parts of skimmed milk and 
water ; wipe dry ; never use soap. Varnish 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 195 

oil-cloths once a year. After being var- 
nished, they should be perfectly dry before 
being used. 

PAINT TO CLEAN 

Dirty paint should never be wiped with 
a cloth, but the dust should be loosened 
with a pair of bellows, and then removed 
with a dusting-brush. If very dirty, wash 
the paint lightly with a sponge or soft flan- 
nel dipped in weak soda-and-water, or in 
pearl-ash and water. The sponge or flannel 
must be used nearly dry, and the portion of 
paint gone over must immediately be rinsed 
with a flannel and clean water ; both soda 
and pearl-ash, if suffered to remain on, 
will injure the paint. The operation of 
washing should, therefore, be done as 
quickly as possible, and two persons should 
be employed ; one to follow and dry the 
paint with soft rags, as soon as the other 
has scoured off the dirt and washed away 
the soda. No scrubbing-brush should ever 
be used on paint. 

PAINT TO DISPERSE THE SMELL OF 

Place some sulphuric acid in a basin of 
water and let it stand in the room where 
the paint is. Change the water daily. 



196 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 



PAINT — TO REMOVE FROM CLOTHING 

Rub immediately with a rough rag wetted 
with turpentine. 

OIL PAINTINGS TO CLEAN 

Rub a freshly cut slice of potato damped 
in cold water over the picture. Wipe off 
the lather with a soft, damp sponge, and 
then finish with luke-warm water, and dry, 
and polish with a piece of soft silk that has 
been washed. 

PAPER HANGING TO MAKE PASTE FOR 

Mix flour and water to the consistency of 
cream, and boil. A few cloves added in the 
boiling will prevent the paste going sour. 

PEARS — TO KEEP FOR WINTER USE 

Lay the pears on a shelf in a dry, cool 
place. Set them stems up and so far apart 
that they do not touch one another. Allow 
the air to move freely in the room in which 
they lie. Layers of paper or of straw make 
a soft bed, but the less the pear touches 
the shelf or resting-place the better for its 
keeping. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 197 



PICTURE FRAMES TO KEEP FLIES FROM 

Brush them over with water in which 
onions have been boiled. 

GILT PICTURE FRAMES TO BRIGHTEN 

Take sufficient sulphur to give a golden 
tinge to about one and one-half pints of 
water, and in this boil four or five bruised 
onions. Strain off the liquid when cold, 
and with it wash with a soft brush any- 
gilding which requires restoring, and when 
dry it will come out as bright as new work. 
Frames may also be brightened in the fol- 
lowing manner: Beat up the white of eggs 
with soda, in the proportion of three ounces 
of eggs to one ounce of soda. Blow off 
as much dust as possible from the frames, 
and paint them over with a soft brush 
dipped in the mixture. They will immedi- 
ately come out fresh and bright. 

RATS TO DESTROY 

Set traps and put a few drops of rhodi- 
um inside ; they are fond of it. Cats are, 
however, the most reliable rat-traps. There 
is no difficulty in poisoning rats, but they 
often die in the walls, and create a dreadful 
odor, hard to get rid of. When poisoning 



198 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

is attempted, remove or cover all water 
vessels, even the well or cistern. 

RIBBONS — TO WASH 

If there are grease spots, rub the yolk of 
an egg upon them, on the wrong side; let 
it dry. Lay it upon a clean cloth, and 
wash upon each side with a sponge ; press 
on the wrong side. If very much soiled, 
wash in bran-water ; add to the water in 
which it is rinsed a little muriate of tin 
to set red, oil of vitriol for green, blue, ma- 
roon, and bright yellow. 

RUST — TO PRESERVE FROM 

Make a strong paste of fresh lime and 
water, and with a fine brush smear it as 
thickly as possible over all the polished sur- 
face requiring preservation. By this simple 
means, all the grates and fire-irons in an 
empty house may be kept for months free 
from harm, without further care or atten- 
tion. 

RUST — TO REMOVE FROM POLISHED STEEL 

Rub the spots with soft animal fat; lay 
the articles by ; wrap in thick paper two 
days ; clean off the grease with flannel ; rub 
the spots well with fine rotten-stone and 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 199 

sweet oil ; polish with powdered emery and 
soft leather, or with magnesia or fine 
chalk. 

RUST TO REMOVE FROM IRON UTENSILS 

Rub sweet oil upon them. Let it remain 
two days ; cover with finely-powdered lime ; 
rub this off wtih leather in a few hours. 
Repeat if necessary. 

To prevent their rusting when not in 
use : Mix half a pound of lime with a 
quart of warm water ; add sweet oil until 
it looks like cream. Rub the article with 
this ; when dry, wrap in paper or put over 
aViother coat. See also Irons. 

RUST AND INK STAINS TO REMOVE 

Put half an ounce of oxalic acid in a 
pint of water. Dip the stain in the water, 
and apply the acid as often as necessary. 
Wash very soon, in half an hour at least, 
or the cloth will be injured by the acid. 
Preserve in bottle marked ''Poison." This 
also cleans brass beautifully. 

RUSTED SCREWS TO LOOSEN 

Boil scorched articles in milk and tur- 
pentine, half a pound of soap, half a gallon 
of milk. Lay in the sun. 



200 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 



RUSTED SCREWS TO LOOSEN 

Pour a small quantity of paraffin round 
the top of the screw. When sufficient time 
has been allowed for the oil to sink in, the 
screw can be easily removed. 

SEALING-WAX FOR BOTTLES, JARS, ETC. 

Three-fourths rosin, one-fourth beeswax ; 
melt. Or use half a pound of rosin, the 
same quantity of red sealing-wax, and a 
half an ounce of beeswax ; melt, and as it 
froths up, stir it with a tallow candle. Use 
new corks; trim (after driving them in se- 
curely) even with the bottle, and dip the 
necks in this cement. 

SHIRTS TO IRON 

Use for ironing shirts a bosom-board, 
made of seasoned wood a foot wide, one 
and a half long, and an inch thick ; cover 
it well by tacking over very tight two or 
three folds of flannel, according to the 
thickness of the flannel. Cover it lastly 
with Canton flannel ; this must be drawn 
over very tight, and tacked well to prevent 
folds when in use. Make slips of fine 
white cotton cloth ; put a clean one on every 
week. A skirt-board must be made in the 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 201 

same way for ironing dresses ; five feet 
long, tapering from two feet at one end to 
a foot and a half at the other, the large 
end should be round. A clean slip should 
be upon it whenever used. A similar but 
smaller board should be kept for ironing 
gentlemen's summer pants. Keep fluting 
and crimping irons, a small iron for rufftes, 
and a polishing-iron. 

RUSSET SHOES TO POLISH 

Remove stains with lemon juice, and pol- 
ish with beeswax dissolved in turpentine. 

SHOES TO PREVENT FROM CRACKING 

Saturate a piece of flannel in boiled lin- 
seed oil and rub it well over the soles and 
round the edges of the shoes, then stand 
them, soles upward, to dry. 

SILK — TO RENOVATE 

Sponge faded silks with warm water and 
soap; then rub them with a dry cloth on a 
flat board; afterward iron them on the in- 
side with a smoothing-iron. Old black silks 
may be improved by sponging with spirits. 
In this case, the ironing may be done on 
the right side, thin paper being spread 
over to prevent glazing. 



203 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

SILK AND SATIN TO CLEAN 

Pin the breadths on a soft blanket ; then 
take some stale breadcrumbs, and mix with 
them a little powder-blue. Rub this thor- 
oughly and carefully over the whole sur- 
face with the hand or a piece of clean linen ; 
shake it off and wipe with soft cloths. Sat- 
in may be brushed the way of the nap with 
a clean, soft, hair-brush. 

SILK TO TAKE STAINS FROM 

Mix two ounces of essence of lemon and 
one ounce of turpentine. Grease and other 
spots in silks are to be rubbed gently with 
a linen rag dipped in this mixture. 

SILKS — TO WASH 

For a dress to be washed, the seams of 
a skirt do not require to be ripped apart, 
though it must be removed from the band 
at the waist, and the lining taken from the 
bottom. Trimmings or drapings, where 
there are deep folds, the bottom of which 
is very difficult to reach, should be undone, 
so as to remain flat. A black silk dress, 
-without being previously washed, may be 
refreshed by being soaked during twenty- 
four hours in soft, clear water, clearness 
in the water being indispensable. If dirty 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 203 

the black dress may be previously washed. 
When very old and rusty, a pint of alcohol 
should be mixed with each gallon of water. 
This addition is an improvement under any 
circumstances, whether the silk be previ- 
ously washed or not. After soaking, the 
dress should be hung up to drain dry vAth- 
out being wrung. The mode of washing 
silks is this : The article should be laid 
upon a clean, smooth table. A flannel just 
wetted with lukewarm water should be 
well soaped, and the surface of the silk 
rubbed one way with it, care being taken 
that this rubbing is quite even. When the 
dirt has disappeared, the soap must be 
washed off with a sponge and plenty of cold 
w^ater, of which the sponge must be made 
to imbibe as much as possible. As soon as 
one side is finished, the other must be 
washed precisely in the same manner. Let 
it be understood that not more of either 
surface must be done at a time than can 
be spread perfectly flat upon the table, and 
the hand can conveniently reach ; likewise 
the soap must be quite sponged off one por- 
tion before the soaped flannel is applied to 
another portion. Silks, when washed,, 
should always be dried in the shade, on a 
linen horse, and alone. If black or dark 
blue, they will be improved if they are 
placed on a table when dry, and well. 
sponged witli alcohol. 



204 BOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

SILVER — TO POLISH 

Boil soft rag's for five minutes (nothing 
is better for the purpose than the tops of 
old cotton stockings) in a mixture of new- 
milk and ammonia. As soon as they are 
taken out, wring- them for a moment in cold 
water, and dry before the fire. With these 
rags rub the silver briskly as soon as it has 
been w^ell w^ashed and dried after daily use. 
A most beautiful deep polish wall be pro- 
duced, and the silver will require nothing 
more than merely to be dusted with a 
leather or a dry, soft cloth before it is again 
put on the table. 

SILVER — TO CLEAN 

Wash in hot soap suds (use the silver 
soap if convenient) ; then clean with a paste 
of w'hiting and water, or whiting and alco- 
hol. Polish with buckskin. If silver w^as 
always washed in hot suds, rinsed well, and 
wiped dry, it would seldom need anything 
else. 

SILVER — TO REMOVE STAINS FROM 

Steep the silver in lye four hours ; then 
cover thick with whiting wet with vinegar ; 
let this dry ; rub with dry whiting ; and 
polish with dry wheat bran. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 205 

Egg-stains may be removed from silver 
by rubbing with table salt. 

SOAK CLOTHES FOR WASHING TO 

Take a gallon of water, one pound of sal 
soda, and one pound of soap ; boil one hour, 
then add one tablespoonful of spirits of tur- 
pentine. Put the clothes to soak over night; 
next morning soap them well with the mix- 
ture. Boil well one hour; rinse in three 
waters ; add a little bluing to the last water. 

SOFT SOAP TO MAKE 

The ashes should be of hardwood (hick- 
ory is best), and kept dry. When put in 
the hopper, mix a bushel of unslacked lime 
with ten bushels of ashes ; put in a layer of 
ashes ; then one slight sprinkling of lime ; 
wet each layer with water (rain water is 
best). A layer of straw should be put upon 
the bottom of the hopper before the ashes 
are put in. An opening in the side or bot- 
tom for the lye to drip through, and a 
trough or vessel under to receive the lye. 
When the lye is strong enough to bear up 
an egg, so as to show the size of a dime 
above the surface, it is ready for making 
soap ; until it is, pour it back into the hop- 
per, and let it drip through again. Add 
water to the ashes in such quantities as may 
be needed. Have the vessel very clean in 



206 HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 

which the soap is to be made. Rub the 
pot over with corn meal after washing it, 
and if it is at all discolored, rub it over 
with more until the vessel is perfectly clean. 
Melt three pounds of clean grease ; add to 
it a gallon of weak lye, a piece of alum 
the size of a walnut. Let this stew until 
well mixed. If strong lye is put to the 
grease, at first it will not mix well with the 
grease. In an hour add three gallons of 
strong hot lye ; boil briskly, and stir fre- 
quently; stir one way. After it has boiled 
several hours, cool a spoonful upon a plate ; 
if it does not jelly, add a little water; if 
this causes it to jelly, then add water to the 
kettle. Stir quickly while the water is 
poured in until it ropes on the stick. As 
to the quantity of water required to make 
it jelly, judgment must be used; the quan- 
tity will depend upon circumstances. It 
will be well to take some in a bowl, and 
notice what proportion of water is used to 
produce this effect. 

To harden it : Add a quart of salt to this 
quantity of soap ; let it boil quick ten min- 
utes ; let it cool. Next day cut it out. This 
is now ready for washing purposes. 

BROWN TAR SOAP — TO MAKE 

Take eight gallons of soft soap, two 
quarts of salt, and one pound of rosin, pul- 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 20T 

verized ; mix, and boil half an hour. Turn 
it in a tub to cool. 



SOAP-POTASH — TO MAKE 

Six pounds of potash, five pounds of 
grease, and a quarter of a pound of pow- 
dered rosin ; mix all well in a pot, and, 
when warm, pour on ten gallons of boil- 
ing water. Boil until thick enough. 

SOAP FOR CLEANING SILVER, ETC. — TO 
MAKE 

One bar of turpentine soap, three table- 
spoonfuls of spirits of turpentine, half a 
tumbler of water. Let it boil ten minutes. 
Add six tablespoonfuls of ammonia. Make 
a suds of this, and wash silver with it. 

SPERMACETI TO REMOVE 

Scrape it off; put brown paper on the 
spot and press with hot iron. 

ACID STAINS TO REMOVE 

Apply ammonia to neutralize the acid ; 
after which apply chloroform. This will 
remove paints from garments when benzine 
has failed. 



20S HOUSEHOLD EEC I PES 



STARCH TO PREPARE 

Wet two tablespoonfuls of starch to a 
smooth paste with cold water ; pour to it a 
pint of boihng water ; put it on the fire ; let 
it boil, stirring frequently until it looks 
transparent ; this will probably require half 
an hour. Add a piece of spermaceti as large 
as half a nutmeg, or as much salt, or loaf 
sugar — this will prevent the starch from 
sticking to the iron. 

STARCH COLD-WATER 

Mix the starch to a smooth cream with 
cold water, then add borax dissolved in 
boiling water in the proportion of a dessert- 
spoonful to a teacupful of starch. 

MUSLINS TO STARCH 

Add to the starch for fine muslins a little 
white gum Arabic. Keep a bottle of it 
ready for use. Dissolve two ounces in a 
pint of hot water ; bottle it ; use as may be 
required, adding it to the starch. ^luslins, 
calicoes, etc., should never be stifTer than 
when new. Rice-water and isinglass stif- 
fen very thin muslins better than starch. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 209 



TAR AND PITCH TO REMOVE 

Grease the place with lard or sweet oil. 
Let it remain a day and night; then wash 
in suds. If silk or worsted, rub the stain 
with alcohol. 

Paraffin will remove tar from the hands. 

UMBRELLAS — CARE OF 

An umbrella should not be folded up 
when it is wet. Let it stand with handle 
downwards, so that the wet can run off 
the ends of the ribs, instead of running 
towards the ferrule and rusting that part of 
the umbrella. 

VELVET TO RENEW 

Hold the velvet, pile downwards, over 
boiling water, in which ammonia is dis- 
solved, double the velvet (pile inwards) 
and fold it lightly together. 

WALL-PAPER TO CLEAN 

Tie cotton upon a long stick ; brush the 
walls well with this. When soiled, turn it, 
or rub the walls with stale loaf bread. Split 
the loaf, and turn the soft part to the wall. 



no HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 



WHITEWASH — TO MAKE 

Put half a bushel of unslacked lime in a 
barrel ; cover it with hot water ; stir occa- 
sionally, and keep the vessel well covered. 
When slacked, strain into another barrel 
through a sieve. Put a pound of glue in a 
glue-pot; melt it over a slow fire until dis- 
solved. Soak the glue in cold water be- 
fore putting the pot over the fire. Dissolve 
a peck of salt in boiHng water. Make a 
thin paste of three pounds of ground rice 
boiled half an hour. Stir to this half a 
pound of Spanish whiting. Now add the 
rice paste to the lime ; stir it in well ; then 
the glue ; mix well ; cover the barrel, and 
let it stand twenty-four hours. When 
ready to use, it should be put on hot. It 
makes a durable wash for outside walls, 
planks, etc., and may be colored. Spanish 
brown will make it red or pink, according 
to the quantity used. A delicate tinge of 
this is very pretty for inside walls. Lamp- 
black in small quantities will make slate 
color. Finely pulverized clay mixed with 
Spanish brown, makes lilac. Yellow chrome 
or yellow ochre makes yellow. Green must 
not be used ; lime destroys the color, and 
makes the whitewash peel. 



HOUSEHOLD RECIPES 211 



WINDOWS — TO WASH 

Wash well with soap suds; rinse with 
warm water; rub dry with linen, and finish 
by polishing with soft dry paper. A fine 
polish is given to window-glass by brushing 
it over with a paste of whiting. Let it 
dry; rub off with paper or cloth, and with 
a clean, dry brush, remove every particle 
of the whiting from the corners. Once a 
year will be altogether sufficient for this. 



The End 



DEC 14 1910 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





014 180 257 4 




